Steve Borthwick watches Exeter's young guns come good against Newcastle

It was by no means emphatic, but Exeter’s away monkey is finally off their backs. Sunday’s win was the Chiefs’ first on the road in the league for 13 months, but they were made to work exceptionally hard for their four points against a Falcons side who brought buckets of Geordie grit – and who may believe this was one that got away.

For Newcastle, their winless run, stretching back to March in the Premiership, continues but despite the two sides’ league placings this was an eminently winnable match against a wholly unconvincing Exeter. At one stage, the Falcons had scored two marvellous tries, through Jamie Blamire and Matias Moroni, and led by nine points. Losing the second half 12-0 did little to help the hosts’ cause and ultimately proved the difference.

“We’ve not looked at the whole 13 months, just this group coming together,” said Ali Hepher, Exeter head coach. “Hopefully we’re moving in the right direction... a step forward.

“You always want to play well but the pleasing thing is that they were in the fight. It wasn’t pretty but we controlled the game.”

The much-vaunted cabal of Exeter youngsters arrived in the North East bulwarked by an unbeaten home record this season, despite their travails away from Sandy Park. Rob Baxter, Exeter’s director of rugby, would have demanded a fast start, and that is exactly what his side delivered. Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, the 20-year-old English and Welsh-qualified wing, left Moroni and Louie Johnson for dead, weaving through the Falcons defence and flattening Iwan Stephens to score after just 35 seconds.

Given Exeter’s young English talent, it came as no surprise to find the bespectacled face of England head coach Steve Borthwick popping up among the Kingston Park faithful. Feyi-Waboso’s opening score would certainly have caught his attention – although the wing lasted just 12 minutes before departing with injury – but from that try onwards the rest will have done little to endear themselves to the England head coach.

In fact, Borthwick might have been more impressed by the likes of Johnson, Adam Radwan and Blamire than Tommy Wyatt, Henry Slade and Ehren Painter. The latter, having gained a reputation for his juggernaut scrummaging this season, did not have things his own way against Phil Brantingham.

Borthwick would have been overjoyed by the performance of Newcastle’s highly regarded openside, Guy Pepper. The flanker, until his 35th-minute departure, was the game’s outstanding player, ravaging the Exeter ruck and pillaging the Chiefs in contact. It was no coincidence that, during Pepper’s time on the field, Exeter lost the ball seven times at the tackle and that after his exit Newcastle did not have the same cut and thrust.

“The group are pretty crestfallen,” said Alex Codling, Newcastle’s head coach. “When you go behind and show the courage and skill to take a 14-5 lead, we should win. But we’re making really basic errors that will kill you at any level and that’s not acceptable.”

It was Pepper’s boisterous back-row colleague, Pedro Rubiolo, who was responsible for Newcastle’s early riposte, however – in tandem with Blamire – as the Falcons stung Exeter with two pearls in five minutes. First, Radwan darted close to the ruck, Rubiolo found a chink of light before offloading to Blamire on a wrecking-ball line, the hooker swerving past the woeful attempted tackle by Wyatt to score.

Moments later, Johnson fizzed a pass to Pepper, whose silky offload sent Stephens down the flank. The wing chipped over, Moroni collected and Exeter’s sumptuous start was vanquished. Two Johnson conversions meant Newcastle had a nine-point lead to defend, which was cut to six just before half-time, as Harvey Skinner slotted a penalty following a Callum Chick off-the-ball nudge.

The second half was defined by the Falcons’ inability to back up their positives. As soon as Newcastle earned a small victory, they would back it up with an error. It was only a matter of time before Exeter struck. Ben Hammersley, another of the Chiefs’ youthful crew, was not held cannoning into three Newcastle defenders on the counter. The wing regained his feet, broke clear, and fed Slade for an unopposed run-in.

The international centre missed the fairly routine conversion, but it did not matter, as moments later Exeter were at it again. Jacques Vermeulen burst through the Falcons midfield, and two phases later Josh Iosefa-Scott was muscling over from close range.

Having trailed since the sixth minute, Exeter suddenly led by six, over an hour later. They would never be caught.