| Castres (12) 12 |
| Pens: Dumora 4 |
| Exeter Chiefs (12) 27 |
| Tries: S Simmonds, Ewers, Maunder, Woodburn Pen: J Simmonds Cons: J Simmonds 2 |
Exeter Chiefs began their Heineken Champions Cup campaign with an impressive 27-12 bonus-point win at Castres.
The visitors took a deserved lead when Sam Simmonds crossed out wide before Dave Ewers added a second try.
Chiefs were pegged back by four Julien Dumora penalties to end the first half level, but Jack Maunder scored the third try after the break.
Olly Woodburn finished off a flowing backs move for the bonus-point try.
Exeter had suffered four defeats in their last five Premiership fixtures, but there was no sign of any hesitancy as they inflicted a first home defeat for Castres in 11 months.
The English side welcomed back number eight Sam Simmonds for his first club start since October, and it was the England international who kick-started the scoring after being fed in space by Maunder.
The hosts did not have the same potency in their attack, but the boot of Dumora kept them in the game, despite Ewers powering over from close range for Exeter’s second try.
The scoreboard did not reflect the 2020 champions’ dominance until Maunder powered over from the base of the ruck.
Then the front-foot power was replaced by running guile as Stuart Hogg made a trademark break before putting Woodburn through for an unopposed run-in for the fourth.
Home and away fixtures against South African side the Bulls follow in the pool stages for Exeter before they welcome Castres to Sandy Park in the return fixture in January.
‘A bit of extra Exeter zip’ – what they said
Speaking to BT Sport, Exeter Chiefs head coach Ali Hepher said: “We have trained well for a long time, but we had a bit of extra Exeter zip about us this week and we pushed that through on the pitch.
“It wasn’t all our own way and they are a tough team, but we had to wear them down and we managed to score some nice tries off the back of it.”
On the breakdown: “We were in there so fast past the ball we were almost blowing past them, so it was about us maintaining our quality.
“Every point in this competition is really important, with a maximum of 20 [to play for], so you have to take as many as you can. Taking one more away from home is important and we know we have to back it up next week, but we will enjoy this one.”
Line-ups
Castres: Dumora; Palis, Combezou, Zeghdar, Nokosi; Le Brun, Doubrere; Tichit, Barlot, Hounkpatin, Nakarawa, Staniforth, Babillot, De Crespigny, Andron.
Replacements: Colonna, Guerois-Galisson, Guillamon, Hannoyer, Kornath, Raisuqe, Kockott, Seguret
Exeter: Hogg; Nowell, Slade, O’Loughlin, Woodburn; J Simmonds, S Maunder; Sio, Yeandle (c), Williams, Jenkins, Gray, Ewers, Tshiunza, S Simmonds.
Replacements: Frost, Hepburn, Iosefa-Scott, Van Heerden, Grondona, Becconsall, Kata, Hodge
