Relentless Exeter turn on the power to edge out Wasps in thriller

The Exeter director of rugby, Rob Baxter, had spoken of this game being a chance to accelerate into the campaign. His resilient team found a way to win thanks to a second-half display of relentless, crushing power. A generous helping of attacking muscle, a ton of committed defending and another brilliant kicking display from Jimmy Gopperth proved insufficient for Wasps to take anything more than a bonus point.

Related: Leicester stay perfect as Ellis Genge’s all-round brilliance crushes Worcester

“I am pretty gutted,” said the Wasps head coach, Lee Blackett. “Sometimes the amount of effort you put in, you don’t get the reward it deserved. The effort was there to see, it just needed a victory to back it up.”

There was a single garish pink headdress visible in the crowd before kick-off, not that anyone present seemed to mind, and the opening was punctuated by a series of fearsome collisions.

After Thomas Young stole Exeter possession, the second-row Vaea Fifita nearly went barrelling under the posts, but a straightforward penalty from Gopperth gave Wasps the lead.

The Exeter captain, Henry Slade, replied with a long-range penalty, before Wasps’ Josh Bassett was sent to the sin-bin for a high shoulder. Despite Exeter’s numerical advantage, the hosts edged back ahead with another Gopperth penalty.

But when Jack Nowell cut inside from the right wing the flanker Dave Ewers offered a classy offload to Jack Maunder and he sent Slade cantering to the corner.

Four minutes later, the Argentinian Facundo Cordero scorched past Marcus Watson for his side’s second try.

Wasps redoubled their efforts to smash into contact and were rewarded when a fine drive off a lineout allowed Dan Frost to flop over and Gopperth converted.

By half-time, Wasps found themselves 20-15 ahead after another accomplished close-range drive led to Young touching down. Gopperth converted again and the home fans headed for their half-time pints in an upbeat mood.

Wasps made a mess of the second-half restart and Exeter set the tone by encamping themselves in the hosts’ 22, with Jonny Hill, Nowell and Luke Cowan-Dickie all trying and failing to get over.

Exeter kept coming, Wasps kept tackling, in particular a thunderous hit by Jeff Toomaga-Allen that sent Cordero flying backwards. Exeter came away with nothing after a spell of phenomenally committed defending.

A fight erupted behind the posts just as Frost, the Wasps hooker, became the second home player to be sent to the sin-bin. Cowan-Dickie was then forced off with an ankle injury, which looked potentially serious enough to rule him out of the England squad that gathers on Monday.

When Hill infringed at the lineout, Gopperth’s penalty stretched Wasps’ lead to eight.

Cordero was soon roaring on to his own kick at the other end, only for the Watson to deny him by diving on the ball.

Exeter came again: Sam Simmonds bashed over the line, Slade converted and it was a one-point game.

Wasps attacked, but a knock-on allowed Slade to unleash a 50/22 touch-finder from deep in his own half. Exeter duly had the lineout and when Hill crossed in the opposite corner to put the visitors back in front on 67 minutes, it was enough for a thrilling win.

“We went into a bit of a safe mode [after taking the lead] and that lost us games last year, big games,” said the Exeter head coach, Ali Hepher.

“Mentally, we’ve got to nail that bit down … But second half, we kept at it. It showed real mental resilience to get knocked back from the five-metre pressure.

“A lot of teams would have folded when they cleared their lines, but when we got our chances later on, we were clinical.”