Exeter into last eight

The Devon club were playing in the second-flight of English domestic rugby in 2010 but have enjoyed a remarkable turnaround which culminated in the comfortable Amlin Challenge Cup triumph over the Catalan club.

Rob Baxter’s men went into the Sandy Park clash knowing only a win would be enough to top Pool Four and advance into the knockout stages.

They passed their biggest test yet with flying colours but must wait until the outcome of tomorrow’s clash between London Wasps and Bordeaux-Begles to learn if they have done enough to earn a home quarter-final.

The Chiefs made the worst possible start to the clash as Perpignan clinched early tries from Charles Geli and Joffrey Michel.

But home fly-half Ignacio Mieres chipped away at the visitors lead before Hayden Thomas touched down.
Brett Sturgess and James Phillips then crossed for crucial second-half tries to seal a memorable Sandy Park victory.

The Catalan giants made a perfect start at Sandy Park and grabbed the game’s opening try after just two-minutes. It was an opportunist touchdown for the visitors with David Marty hacking through, after the ball popped out a ruck on the five-metre line, and then re-gathering before looping a perfect pass for Geli to score his second try in as many weeks.
Wales international, in his first European campaign with the French club, slotted the conversion to hand his side a swift 7-0 lead.

Perpignan doubled their advantage with a second try on eight minutes. The ball was spread wide to Joffrey Michel, who drew the defence while in his own half, kicked-through and out-paced the covering defence to dive on the ball in the nick of time. Again Hook was on target with the boot to make the scores 14-0.

Exeter hit-back with an Mieres penalty on 14 minutes and quickly added a second to close the gap further.

Perpignan were dealt a blow on 25 minutes when Robins Tchale-Watchou was sent to the sin-bin for failing to roll away from the ruck as referee John Lacey lost patience with the French side’s penalty count.

Mieres kicked to the corner as the English side aimed to capitalise on their numerical advantage and their decision paid off when Thomas wriggled over following a driving lineout.

The Chiefs’ Argentine fly-half stretched his faultless kicking display with the conversion to bring his side within a point of the Top 14 outfit.

Some magical footwork from try-scorer Thomas earned Exeter a penalty just before half-time and Mieres made no mistake to give his side a 16-14 lead.

Hook had the opportunity to boot Perpignan back into the lead early in the second-half but sliced the ball wide and it was Exeter who broke the deadlock thanks to Mieres’ fourth penalty.

Exeter, with their tails up, raced clear for a crucial try on the hour-mark. The ball was spread wide and following quick-hands from Gonzalo Camacho and Kevin Barrett prop-forward Brett Sturgess surged down the wing to score.

Rob Baxter’s men continued to exert pressure on shell-shocked Perpignan and took a major foot-hold on the game when replacement flanker Phillips sliced through the French side’s defence after Gareth Steenson’s penalty rebounded off the uprights.

Steenson dissected the posts to hand his side a commanding 31-14 lead.