The champions' defence is back on track. Northampton may not have been at their best here, but they deserved a win that was more comfortable than the mandatory final-quarter comeback by the Chiefs might suggest. Exeter are a young side whose rebuilding phase last season was more impressive than expected, but they still look like a talented group still getting to grips with the challenges of the Premiership and each other. Their comeback from 30-10 for a losing bonus point will give them encouragement.
For Saints, this felt more like business as usual, even with their significant loss of experience. Fin Smith was confident and in control throughout, his kicking and playmaking becoming increasingly compelling for England, let alone this champion club. However, neither side started the season with the result they wanted in round one. Champions hate losing, but Saints' defeat at Bath, the team they beat in last season's final, was probably less painful than the Chiefs' home defeat to Leicester last week. Here, the champions were playing at home for the first time since their triumph in June.
While they didn't exactly set the game alight, they certainly dominated the opening half-hour, though they didn't quite convince they were superior. They hit their peak within the first 10 minutes. From a lineout, Curtis Langdon released Juarno Augustus through a gap in Exeter's midfield. The No 8 had options inside and out and didn't panic, choosing to pass to Alex Coles from out of the tackle. Coles ran in for the game's opening score.
Two penalties from Smith, the first from 50 metres on an angle after Christ Tshiunza caught George Furbank a little high, the second from the dominant Saints scrum, opened up a 13-0 lead for the home side inside that first half-hour. There were other moments for Saints, the best involving James Ramm down the left flank, but their finishing skills eluded them for the rest of the half. Exeter had their moments too. Perhaps Ramm was loitering on the left to escape the muscular Paul Brown-Bampoe on their left flank. He went on a couple of runs from deep, without ever quite looking confident he would score, and one burst of interplay between Ross Vintcent and Dan Frost hinted at Exeter's threat.
This was finally consummated five minutes before the break, when Harvey Skinner took advantage of the threat of the lurking Brown-Bampoe to sell an outrageous dummy to cut clean through Northampton's midfield. His inside ball sent Olly Woodburn, starting at centre for the first time, cantering to the posts. An even longer penalty kick than Smith's by Josh Hodge, this one from halfway, 15 metres in, brought the Chiefs to within three a couple of minutes into the second half. But Northampton stunned the visitors with two tries in five minutes.
Sam Maunder, at scrum-half, was making his first appearance in 18 months, after injury, but his clearance kick from deep in his own 22 was charged down by Chunya Munga. The lock easily regathered for a short stroll to the line. If that was the down-and-dirty Saints, their third was more imperious, based on two pinpoint cross-kicks by two of the multiple playmakers in their back line. Smith supplied the first, which set Ramm free, on the right flank this time, who cut inside. When the ball was recycled, Furbank stepped up, the new club captain, to send over a beauty to the left, where Rory Hutchinson gathered and scored out wide. Smith's touchline conversion was one thing, but his drop goal from 40 metres on the hour another again, to open up a 30-10 lead.
That would normally be considered decisive, but this is the Premiership – and the Era of the Comeback. Sure enough, Exeter played more in the final quarter than they had in the first hour. Immanuel Feyi-Waboso was not enjoying himself much, marked out of the game, but he finished smartly with 10 minutes to go after one Exeter raid. Then during a 20-phase attack by the Chiefs, Hutchinson thought he had successfully stripped the ball from Woodburn, but the TMO decided his shoulder had clashed with Woodburn's head. The latter's low posture spared Hutchinson red, but he was sent to the sin bin. From the scrummed penalty, Will Haydon-Wood's long ball put Feyi-Waboso over for his second. Hodges's conversion from out wide earned Exeter a losing bonus point. But to deny the champions on their own patch in the final two minutes would prove an unlikelihood too far.
