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Exeter: (14) 21 |
Tries: Witty, Hogg, Nowell Cons: J Simmonds 2, Slade |
London Irish: (14) 33 |
Tries: Creevy, Rona, Van Rensburg, Loader, Hassell-Collins Cons: Jackson 4 |
London Irish ran in five tries and defended superbly to upset Exeter and win 33-21 at Sandy Park.
Agustin Creevy and Curtis Rona went over inside the first 10 minutes as Irish started impressively, but Will Witty and Stuart Hogg scored in a four-minute spell to put Chiefs level.
Irish got a bonus point through Benhard Janse van Rensburg and Ben Loader's tries early in the second period.
Ollie Hassell-Collins got a fifth Irish try before Jack Nowell pulled one back.
The loss was Exeter's third of the season, and second at home, as Irish won for the first time in six attempts this season, 210 days after their last win.
The Chiefs - who have reached the last six Premiership finals and lost just five regular-season games last season - are now sixth in the Premiership while Irish are ninth, two points further back.
Nick Phipps' excellent break inside the Exeter 22 set up Irish's opener as Albert Tuisue fed Argentina hooker Creevy, who scored for the fifth successive game as he went in from close range.
The Exiles looked good early on and broke through again in the 10th minute through centre Rona before Irish lost Creevy to a failed head injury assessment.
But Exeter began to grow into the game and struck midway through the half as Tom Hendrickson broke through and earned a close-range penalty with Witty scoring a few phases after.
Centre Hendrickson was again the provider for Hogg's try three minutes later as he took Henry Slade's well-disguised pass before sending the Scotland skipper clear, while Sam Simmonds was held up over the Irish line seven minutes before the break.
But Irish started the second half as well as the first as Van Rensburg, on as a replacement, went over in the corner after pressure on the Chiefs line and wing Loader went in under the posts shortly after.
Witty had a second try chalked off just after the hour when replays showed Richard Capstick had knocked on in the build-up, and Irish defended superbly as Exeter threw everything at them.
The visitors sealed victory with 17 minutes left as replacement scrum-half Ben White played a lovely switch-pass on the Exeter 22 that opened up a two-on-one for Hassell-Collins to score in the left corner.
Nowell got his first try of the season as he skipped through two tackles to run in from the 22m line but it proved no more than a consolation as Irish ran out deserved winners.
Exeter: Hogg; Nowell, Slade (capt), Hendrickson, O'Flaherty; J Simmonds, Maunder; Moon, Yeandle, Nixon, Witty, Hill, S Skinner, Capstick, S Simmonds
Replacements: Innard, Hepburn, Williams, Lonsdale, Armand, Hidalgo-Clyne, H Skinner, Devoto
London Irish: Parton; Loader, Rona, Hepetema, Hassell-Collins; Jackson, Phipps; Goodrick-Clarke, Creevy, Hoskins, Mafi, Simmons, Rogerson (capt), Pearson, Tuisue.
Replacements: Willemse, Dell, Van der Merwe, Nott, Cooke, White, Jennings, Van Rensburg.
Referee: Hamish Smales (RFU).
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