Double bubble for Chiefs women and men

The joy was palpable among the Exeter Chiefs women's team as referee Charlie Gayther blew his whistle.

A win against Saracens - the (former) top side in the league – is not to be sniffed at and players, coaches and supporters alike revelled in the importance of that result. It wasn’t always easy, but Chiefs secured that bonus point and kept Saracens to a scoreless second half to come away the victors.

It was a super-close first half at Sandy Park with just a conversion and a penalty splitting the two teams.

As expected, scrums and lineouts were key for his game with so many scores triggered by one of these set-piece moves.

The final score, Exeter Chiefs 29 Saracens 12.

A strong performance in all aspects of the game secured Exeter Chiefs men a result against Cornish Pirates at the Mennaye in the opening clash of this season’s Premiership Rugby Cup.

The first points of the game were to belong to the Devon men. Working quickly to get territory in the Pirates half, a penalty for Pirates not rolling away gave Chiefs the option of a quick tap.

Feeding the ball through the phases, a solid run from Will Rigg put them on the front foot before a couple of phases later the centre was the man to finish off the score just three minutes in. Josh Hodge slotted the conversion to begin his evening at the tee positively.

Chiefs were soon on the attack again as Paul Brown-Bampoe lay in wait for an opportunity. When Pirates spilt the bill in front of him, the winger didn’t need to be asked twice. He scooped up the ball and cantered his way past the straggling defenders to run in the try underneath the posts, giving Hodge the simple conversion.

The final score was Cornish Pirates 7 Exeter Chiefs 68.