Premiership Rugby: Exeter Chiefs 35-12 Northampton Saints – Cowan-Dickie grabs brace in bonus win
| Exeter: (21) 35 |
| Tries: S Simmonds, Woodburn, Cowan-Dickie 2, Slade Cons: J Simmonds 5 |
| Northampton: (0) 12 |
| Tries: Dingwall, Proctor Cons: Furbank |
Exeter rediscovered some of their old sparkle as they ran in five tries to beat Northampton 35-12 at Sandy Park.
Close-range tries from Sam Simmonds and Olly Woodburn put Exeter 14-0 up after 15 minutes before Luke Cowan-Dickie was mauled over for a third.
The England hooker scored a second shortly after the restart before Fraser Dingwall crossed for Northampton.
But Henry Slade’s interception score ended the game as a contest before Matt Proctor pulled another try back.
The bonus-point victory – Exeter’s sixth in 12 league games – lifts them from eighth to fifth place in the table as Saints drop to sixth.
Exeter are a point off third-placed Harlequins and fourth-placed Gloucester, with Northampton one point further back as only 10 points separate bottom side Bristol from the top three.
More to follow.
Exeter: Hodge; Nowell, Slade, Kata, Woodburn; J Simmonds, S Maunder; Sio; Cowan-Dickie (capt), Williams, Jenkins, Dunne, Ewers, Tshiunza, S Simmonds.
Replacements: Yeandle, Kenny, Iosefa-Scott, van Heerden, Fisilau, J Maunder, Skinner, O’Loughlin.
Northampton: Freeman; Ramm, Proctor, Dingwall, Skosan; Furbank, Mitchell; Waller, Haywood, Hill, Coles, Moon, Salakaia-Loto, Scott-Young, Ludlam (capt).
Replacements: Smith, Iyogun, Petch, Wilkins, Graham, Braley, Hutchinson, Collins.
Referee: Adam Leal
English
Responses