Exeter Chiefs began their European Champions Cup campaign with a 24-15 victory over Glasgow Warriors at Sandy Park on Saturday evening.
Tries from Harry Williams, Jonny Hill and Sam Simmonds proved too much for Glasgow who scored through Tommy Seymour and Lee Jones.
Finn Russell gave Glasgow the early 3-0 lead after Exeter were pinged at the scrum. Tommy Seymour then scored the game's opening try in the ninth minute after he was found with a beautiful cross-kick out on the right wing. Russell added the extras to make it 10-0.
Exeter hit back in the 17th minute when Williams went over after a series of powerful carries from the Chiefs' forwards. Steenson added the extras to cut the deficit to three.
In the 26th minute, Exeter had wrestled the lead back when Jonny Hill went over at the back of the five metre lineout driving maul. Steenson slotted the conversion to make it 14-10 to the hosts which is how stayed until the half-time break.
Steenson extended the lead to 17-10 with his penalty shortly after the interval.
Soon after, Glasgow stormed back in to the tie with an opportunistic try as Jones pounced on the grubber kick through from Russell that wasn't well dealt with at all by Exeter scrum-half Nic White. Russell missed the conversion but the deficit was still only two at 17-15.
With three minutes to go, Exeter were finally rewarded for their persistent pressure in the face of staunch Glasgow defence which was finally penetrated when Sam Simmonds burst over after a number of phases and a series of powerful carries from the Chiefs' forwards to give the hosts a 24-15 victory.
The scorers:
For Exeter:
Tries: Williams, Hill, Simmonds
Cons: Steenson 3
Pen: Steenson
For Glasgow:
Tries: Seymour, Jones
Con: Russell
Pen: Russell
The teams:
Exeter: 15 Phil Dollman, 14 Lachie Turner, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Ian Whitten, 11 Olly Woodburn, 10 Gareth Steenson, 9 Nic White, 8 Sam Simmonds, 7 Julian Salvi, 6 Don Armand, 5 Jonny Hill, 4 Mitch Lees, 3 Harry Williams, 2 Jack Yeandle (c), 1 Ben Moon
Replacements: 16 Elvis Taione, 17 Carl Rimmer, 18 Tomas Francis, 19 Ollie Atkins, 20 Thomas Waldrom, 21 Stuart Townsend, 22 Tom Hendrickson, 23 James Short
Glasgow: 15 Ruaridh Jackson, 14 Tommy Seymour, 13 Nick Grigg, 12 Peter Horne, 11 Lee Jones, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Ali Price, 8 Adam Ashe, 7 Callum Gibbins, 6 Ryan Wilson (c), 5 Jonny Gray, 4 Tim Swinson, 3 Zander Fagerson, 2 Fraser Brown, 1 Jamie Bhatti
Replacements: 16 George Turner, 17 Alex Allan, 18 D’Arcy Rae, 19 Scott Cummings, 20 Rob Harley, 21 Henry Pyrgos, 22 Sam Johnson, 23 Niko Matawalu
Referee: Alexandre Ruiz (France)
Assistant referees: Thomas Charabas (France), Laurent Cardona (France)
TMO: Philip Bonhoure (France)
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