No luck for the Irish v Chiefs

Jack Nowell marked his return to the Exeter Chiefs side by scoring two tries in his side’s 38-11 Aviva Premiership win over London Irish.

The England international grabbed a try in each half as Rob Baxter’s side ran in six tries in a dominant display at Sandy Park.

Skipper Gareth Steenson started the try-fest and also added four conversions, before he was joined on the scoresheet by Don Armand, Luke Cowan-Dickie, James Short and the impressive Nowell.

In reply, Scottish international Blair Cowan claimed a consolation try for the Exiles, who also added two penalties from fly-half Chris Noakes. However, that was scant reward on a disappointing day for the Londoners, who remain winless after two rounds of the campaign.

Having come unstuck 19-17 at Bath the week previous, Baxter saw little reason to tinker too much with his line-up from that which took to the field at The Rec.

However, the changes he did make – three in all – saw him welcome back World Cup stars Jack Nowell, Henry Slade and Tomas Francis with summer signing Geoff Parling named among the replacements for the first time.

Irish, who also crashed on the opening weekend at home to Leicester Tigers, also made changes with Tom Smallbone, and Fijian international Aseli Tikoirotuma all coming into their starting XV.

See more at: http://exeterchiefs.co.uk/news/chiefs-38-irish-11/#sthash.O3MqZ5GX.dpuf