Last-gasp try gives leaders Northampton victory at Exeter

ByBrent Pilnick

BBC Sport England

The Prem

Exeter (14) 28

Tries: Feyi-Waboso, Rigg, Ridl, Brown-Bampoe Cons: Slade 4

Northampton (14) 35

Tries: Mitchell, Sleightholme, Furbank, Pollock, Smith Cons: Smith 5

Fin Smith's try with five seconds to go saw Prem leaders Northampton beat Exeter 35-28 at Sandy Park.

Saints took advantage as Exeter finished the game with 14 men after two yellow cards to consolidate their place at the top of the table.

Exeter led 14-7 after a breathless first 15 minutes as Immanuel Feyi-Waboso and Will Rigg's tries were pegged back by an Alex Mitchell score.

Northampton gradually imposed themselves on the game and finally levelled just before half-time through Ollie Sleightholme.

Exeter's second-half pressure was finally rewarded when Campbell Ridl scored their third try with 21 minutes to go.

The momentum changed moments later when Feyi-Waboso was sin-binned, and within a minute George Furbank had made it 21-21.

Saints had a try disallowed soon after following a late Television Match Official intervention, but when Ridl was sin-binned with eight minutes left, Exeter could not hold on as replacement Henry Pollock forced his way over against 13 men.

But with three minutes left Paul Brown-Bampoe chased what appeared to be a lost cause as he charged down a kick and dotted down before Henry Slade got the conversion to level again.

However, Smith dramatically won it late on just as it seemed there would be a second draw between the sides this season after a 33-33 scoreline on the opening weekend of the season.

It means Northampton will stay top of the table at the end of round of games, while Exeter remain fourth.

Harvey Skinner's wonderful delayed pass created the space for Olly Woodburn to break and put England winger Feyi-Waboso in for his 12th Exeter try of the season after just 79 seconds.

Rigg thundered over from close range soon after as Exeter set out their intent to make a mark on the Prem leaders - shown in defence as well as attack as winger Ridl superbly came across on the cover to stop Sleightholme going over in the corner moments after the second try.

But the attacking threat from Saints was there for all to see, and George Hendy's superbly jinking run set up Mitchell to go over for their opening try.

And they breached Exeter's defence again at the end of the half when Fin Smith's long pass found Sleightholme alone in the left corner, as the hosts had been drawn in under the posts from a tap penalty, and the winger dotted down unhindered.

Chiefs lost full-back Woodburn to a hamstring injury, but his replacement Will Haydon-Wood was instrumental in their third try as he broke through Saints' line in midfield before putting in impressive young winger Ridl for his 13th of the season in all competitions as Exeter went ahead for the final time.

Four minutes later Feyi-Waboso was yellow-carded for a deliberate knock on, and within seconds Northampton were level as Furbank got on the end of Smith's dinked kick over the defence.

The hosts were let off the hook three minutes later as Josh Kemeny's bonus-point try was disallowed after a knock-on in the build-up, but it seemed as though they would win it when Pollock crossed soon after with a two-man advanatge.

But back to 14 men Exeter got what they thought was the equaliser as Brown Bampoe chased down Sleightholme's kick before scoring, only for Smith to find a gap in the dying moments with a great skip around Feyi-Waboso for the winner.

Northampton director of rugby Phil Dowson told BBC Radio Northampton:

"I don't think you can measure the character, the ability to bounce back from an emotional point of view, and the way we've worked this week - I'm so proud of the boys.

"The connection, the tightness of the group, the character, the heart, the grit - all those sorts of things you talk about - you know when you see it and this group is at it.

"They won't stop and that's probably what I love the most about it."

Exeter director of rugby Rob Baxter told BBC Radio Devon:

"I'm a bit annoyed with myself because I think we did a lot right.

"A lot of our prep was right, but I think whether we got a little too edgy or too nervous to play really well, because outside of the endeavour and the energy and the fight we showed, and obviously created a couple of good tries early on, it's actually quite a scrappy game.

"It was like almost how many more ways can we find to give up the ball, from making an error on how we landed on the floor, making an error at clear out, just dropping the ball, not quite getting into shape quickly enough and I think that sometimes happens when and you're just a little bit edgy, a little bit nervous, and it doesn't let you flow.

"That's my responsibility, I've got to deal with that, but the positive thing is because of the effort we put in there, because of how competitive we're being, every game we can use as a learning experience."

Exeter: Woodburn; Feyi-Waboso, Slade, Rigg, Ridl; Skinner, Varney; Sio, Yeandle, Roots, Jenkins (capt), Zambonin, Hooper, Vintcent, Fisilau.

Replacements: Dweba, Burger, Tchumbadze, Tuima, Roots, Cairns, Haydon-Wood, Brown-Bampoe.

Yellow card: Feyi-Waboso (63), Ridl (72)

Northampton: Furbank (capt); Hendy, Litchfieldm, Dingwall, Sleightholme; F Smith, Mitchell; Iyogun, Wright, Kundiona, Prowse, Lockett, Kemeny, Graham, Chick.

Replacements: R Smith, West, Millar Mills, Van Der Mescht, Pollock, McParland, Pater, Freeman.

Referee: Adam Leal.