Coach Pellow delighted as ruthless Exeter shatter Saints

Skills coach Ricky Pellow hailed Exeter’s ruthless streak after they slayed Saints at Sandy Park.

The Chiefs ran in three tries during the opening 32 minutes, surging into a 22-0 lead in the LV= Cup clash.

It left Saints all at sea and though Jim Mallinder’s men rallied late on, the west country side were the ones left toasting a 28-19 win.

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Exeter had lost their previous four games, including suffering a 16-6 defeat at Bath a week earlier, and Pellow was delighted to see them rediscover their form.

“We talk about moving forward each week and putting in performances and this showed, moving on from Bath last week, that we could create chances and take them,” he said.

“It was massively pleasing.

“Last week we created the chances and didn’t take them but this week we brought the intensity and line speed and didn’t give them any chance to breathe.

“We carried with real intensity and it just showed that when we created the chances we took them.”

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Saints threatened a comeback after bringing five key men, including Soane Tonga’uiha and two-try Lee Dickson, off the bench, but Exeter held out.

And Pellow felt his men had the game by the scruff of the neck throughout.

“They came down with a strong squad: the team that started and obviously the bench as well,” he said.

“The momentum swung a little bit, but we ripped it back off them again and pushed to get the bonus point at the end.

“They’re a strong side but we controlled the momentum for large periods of the game.”