Rejuvenated Exeter Chiefs thrash Glasgow as Tom O'Flaherty bags hat-trick in front of Eddie Jones

Match report: Exeter Chiefs 52 Glasgow 17

Below their exacting standards for much of this campaign, this was the night that Exeter Chiefs burst into life as they buried Glasgow Warriors with 38 unanswered points in a second-half exhibition that encroached on their imperious best.

It is almost unfair to single out individuals from a dominant collective display, which complemented forward dominance with dynamic back play. Wing Tom O’Flaherty registered a bristling hat-trick and Dave Ewers celebrated his 200th Chiefs appearance in style.

In front of Eddie Jones and his England coaching team, who will name their Six Nations squad on Tuesday, there were eye-catching outings from Henry Slade, Luke Cowan-Dickie, Sam Simmonds and the all-action Jack Nowell. European champions in 2020, Exeter appear capable of competing for another title.

“You could just see the team flourishing on one another’s actions,” said Rob Baxter afterwards. “The backs flourished on good ball from the forwards. The forwards flourished on the defensive pressure put on by the backs.

“We built our way up the pitch as we have done in really good years, and that is probably the highlight for me - that DNA is still there. We’ve just got to let it out a bit more.”

Conversely, Danny Wilson, Baxter’s opposite number, conceded that this was a “bombshell game”, and bemusing considering how his charges had performed a month previously against the same opponents. Last month, in comically dense fog at Scotstoun, Glasgow had beaten Exeter 22-7. Here, they were dismantled.

“It’s going to take some looking at, but basically we collapsed,” Wilson admitted. “We got ourselves back into the lead, 17-14 after 45 minutes, then we shipped 38 points in 35 minutes. I didn’t see it coming.”

Defeat for either team in this penultimate round of pool games would have been damaging - if not terminal - for any hope of knockout qualification. Exeter, urged to “unleash themselves” by Baxter, started sharply. Josh Iosefa-Scott, their hulking tighthead prop, pounced to force a breakdown penalty with 45 seconds on the clock. A promising platform subsided with a sloppy lineout and fly-half Ross Thompson opened the scoring for Glasgow with a penalty.

Jack Dempsey, who will qualify for Scotland this October under World Rugby’s eligibility tweak, provided Australia do not cap him again before then, was among the busiest Warriors on both sides of the ball. The 21-year-old Rory Darge, such a promising openside flanker that he could soon threaten Hamish Watson’s standing in the national pecking order, is a willing back-row accomplice.

At the end of the first quarter, however, Dempsey spilled as he attempted a steal. Exeter capitalised from the ensuing scrum. Slade pulled a pass behind Ian Whitten to Joe Simmonds, who fed an arcing O’Flaherty. The finish was slick. A well-struck conversion extended Exeter’s advantage and Whitten’s ruck work, on the back of Nowell’s kick ahead, then carved out another opportunity. Cowan-Dickie, absent from the loss to Harlequins due to illness, threw the lineout long to Sean Lonsdale and Sam Simmonds blasted over with trademark tenacity.

An 11-point advantage but it would not last. Zander Fagerson’s rambunctious run led to another dangerous lineout for Glasgow. Wilson’s forwards swept to their right for a series of phases before Kiran McDonald cleverly found some space to the left and stole through to score.

Momentum swung back and forth, Darge snaring a breakdown turnover and then Exeter’s scrummaging releasing pressure. An enjoyable first half finished with Glasgow in the ascendancy until Jannes Kirsten snapped up a loose ball inside his own 22 to preserve a 14-10 cushion for Exeter.

The ebbs and flows resumed for the second period. O’Flaherty threatened the middle on a diagonal surge. Darge, sinewy and mobile, hauled him down at full stretch. That brought a scrum, and Matt Fagerson went to work. Twice he latched onto passes from scrum-half Ali Price to puncture Exeter. The second of these crossed the whitewash, with Thompson adding the extras to make it 17-14.

Going behind only stung Exeter into a match-defining response. With half an hour remaining, Slade slammed a touch-finder towards his favourite corner of Sandy Park and his colleagues won a penalty. Cowan-Dickie tapped and swung a pass to Sam Simmonds, who was able to wriggle over with teammates adding their weight.

Chiefs’ fourth was owed to a swarming chase of Nowell’s kick ahead that brought a scrum five metres out. Slade spun to locate Joe Simmonds and a chip across the field sailed to an unmarked O’Flaherty.

The hosts’ purple patch continued with a pushover. Cowan-Dickie was the beneficiary and O’Flaherty’s hat-trick was sealed on the back of another strike move, passes from Joe Simmonds and Stuart Hogg allowing him to dart between Kyle Steyn and Duncan Weir.

Nowell had been characteristically prominent, his blue scrum cap bouncing around all evening. He came off his wing to rip through Glasgow’s shell-shocked midfield and take Exeter past 40 but it felt even more fitting that the outstanding Ewers brought up the half-century.

Match details

Scoring: 0-3 Thompson penalty, 5-3 O’Flaherty try, 7-3 J Simmonds conversion, 12-3 S Simmonds try, 14-3 J Simmonds, 14-8 McDonald try, 14-10 Thompson conversion, 14-15 M Fagerson try, 14-17 Thompson conversion, 19-17 S Simmonds try, 21-17 J Simmonds conversion, 26-17 O’Flaherty try, 28-17 J Simmonds conversion, 33-17 Cowan-Dickie try, 38-17 O’Flaherty, 43-17 Nowell try, 45-17 Slade conversion, 50-17 Ewers try, 52-17 Slade conversion

Exeter Chiefs: S Hogg; J Nowell, H Slade, I Whitten (T Hendrickson, 65), T O’Flaherty; J Simmonds (H Skinner, 74), J Maunder (S Maunder, 68); B Moon (J Kenny, 66), L Cowan-Dickie (captain, J Innard, 74), J Iosefa-Scott (P Shickerling, 47), S Skinner, S Lonsdale, D Ewers, J Kirsten (D Jenkins, 73), S Simmonds (D Armand, 73)

Glasgow Warriors: J McKay; K Steyn, S Tuipulotu D Weir, 64), S Johnson, C Forbes (S Cancelliere, 54); R Thompson, A Price (captain, G Horne, 62); J Bhatti (O Kebble, 60), G Turner (F Brown, 40), Z Fagerson (E Pieretto, 65), S Cummings, K McDonald (L Bean, 73), M Fagerson, R Darge (R Wilson, 58), J Dempsey

Referee: R Poite

Attendance: 11,841