Chiefs are grateful for home comforts
EXETER took a long time to warm up on a chilly evening against feisty if ill-disciplined opponents but eventually pulled away in real style to secure a guaranteed home tie in the round of 16 in March.
The Chiefs could also cite a patchy week involving travel back from South Africa for their poor start but the truth is they were off the pace mentally for the opening exchanges which will annoy them a little.
Nor in all honesty did they probably expect a fully charged up Castres who, despite fielding something of a makeshift team, looked demob happy and willing to give it a whirl.
Leading the way was veteran scrum-half Rory Kockott who has come out of retirement to man the pumps after a run of injuries to Castres scrum-half. The South African, who took French nationality many years ago, looks determined to enjoy his unexpected return to action.
Castes scrapped for everything early on and deservedly took the lead through a penalty from Ben Botica who also missed a similar range shot.
Gradually, though, Exeter warmed to their task and finally got on the scoresheet with a nicely taken try by Henry Slade after a sharp break by, and well timed pass from, Jack Innard.
That got the Chiefs going and, as half-time approached, Castres began to lose the plot. Firstly flanker Baptiste Delaporte copped a yellow card when his team were on a final warning and then No.8 Feibyan-Cornell Tukino received a yellow for a headshot to Harvey Skinner.
Just moments later skipper Mathieu Babillot was also yellow carded as he dragged down a rolling maul which looked likely to result in a try. It did. A penalty try.
So suddenly Castres, who had started so well, were down to 12 men with their entire back row off the park and the game essentially lost although they did exceptionally well to avoid conceding any further score before half-time.
Castres’ niggly defiance continued after the break indeed they enjoyed the best of the early exchanges despite still being so shorthanded and went close through Theo Chabouni when Sam Maunder spilled the ball in goal after a clever Kockott kick.
The visitors got back to 14 men without having conceded a point, a notable effort, but at what cost? French lungs were burning and Exeter surely had to hit their stride at some stage. That moment duly arrived on 52 minutes when Sam Simmonds trundled over at the back of a line-out rumble.
It was still scrappy, untidy stuff and, going into the final 10 minutes, Exeter still hadn’t garnered the try bonus they sought to ensure home advantage in the next round but that was rectified in the 73rd minutes when they again proved irresistible at line-out time. Dan Frost actually touched down but referee Andrew Brace has already whistled for a penalty try.
After that, the floodgates opened and there was time for Jack Nowell to collect a kick pass from Skinner to score and finally for big Christ Tshuinza to demonstrate some serious gas for a big unit to race in for a sixth try. A slightly flattering scoreline but a moral boosting win nonetheless.