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Leicester bag struggle session Gallagher Premiership win over Exeter
By PA
Leicester battled to a much-needed yet unconvincing 28-15 win over struggling Exeter in a dour contest.
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The Tigers were the better side in the first half, but the visitors dominated the second period until Will Rigg was sin-binned and can consider themselves unfortunate not to come away with at least a point.
Olly Cracknell, Cameron Henderson, Ollie Hassell-Collins and Ben Youngs scored Leicester’s tries, with Handre Pollard converting all four.
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For Exeter, two pieces of magic from Henry Slade created a brace of tries for Tom Wyatt, with Josh Hodge converting one. Slade also added a penalty.
Exeter took an early lead with a fourth-minute penalty from Slade but from their first period of pressure, Leicester responded with a try from Cracknell when the number eight proved unstoppable from a five-metre scrum.
Pollard converted to make it 7-3 at the end of a competitive but disjointed first quarter, with box-kicks and up-and-unders being the order of the day.
However, the Chiefs’ scrum were under considerable pressure and the concession of a second penalty in the same area saw their opponents batter the Exeter line, but solid defence from the visitors kept them at bay.
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After 31 minutes, Leicester extended the lead when a half-break from Pollard gave Henderson the chance to crash over under the posts. Pollard converted, but missed with a long-range penalty as his side held a deserved 14-3 lead at the break.
Having been injured in the last play of the first half, Tigers’ flanker Hanro Liebenberg failed to reappear and was replaced by Matt Rogerson.
Leicester suffered another setback when two minutes after the restart, Exeter scored an excellent try with Slade’s cross-field kick being collected by Wyatt for the wing to race over.
Chiefs continued to have the better of the third quarter and should have been rewarded, but Wyatt lost possession as he attempted to touchdown for his second try.
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However, it mattered little as from the resulting scrum, Stu Townsend and Slade neatly combined to provide Wyatt with a walk-in score.
Hodge took over the kicking from Slade and nailed the conversion from near the touchline to put his side in front for the first time.
With 15 minutes remaining, Exeter lost replacement Rigg to the sin bin for taking Freddie Steward out in the air and Tigers immediately capitalised.
A clean break from Dan Kelly tore the visitors’ defence to shreds and when the ball was recycled, Hassell-Collins outflanked the cover defence to score.
Rigg’s yellow card proved costly as he was still absent when Youngs saw a gap to secure a scarcely deserved bonus point.
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