Try: Melikidze, Motassi, Penalty, Laloi Cons: bar Pens: bar
Exeter: (17) 25
Try: Brown-Bampoe, Sio 2 Cons: sword 2 Pens: slade Drop goal: slade
Undisciplined Exeter squandered a 22-point lead by losing at the Stade Francais in the European Challenge Cup.
Paul Brown-Bampoe’s 15th-minute try and Scott Sio’s stoppage-time goal at the end of the first half put Exeter up 17-0 at half-time.
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Sio scored another shortly after the restart to put Exeter ahead 22-0, before Giorgi Melikidze responded shortly after for Stade.
Thibaut Motassi’s try narrowed the gap further as Exeter conceded penalty after penalty.
Greg Fisilau was convicted for bringing down a maul in the 63rd minute, and replacement Lewis Pearson gave up a penalty try for a similar infringement a minute later.
Down two men, Charles Laloi’s try put the hosts ahead soon after, but Henry Slade’s drop from 35 meters with eight minutes remaining allowed Exeter to take a one-point lead despite being short-handed.
But Leo Barré’s penalty four minutes later, after another Exeter error, sealed the fate of the English team.
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The defeat means Exeter remain second in Group Three but cannot win the group as Stade have a six-point lead over Chiefs with one game left.
Exeter needed tackles from Ethan Roots and Slade to save tries inside the opening 12 minutes, before taking the lead three minutes later when Brown-Bampoe took advantage of a long pass from Dafydd Jenkins to slot into the left corner.
It gave the Chiefs confidence and they began to threaten more, although both teams struggled to get into their opponents’ red zone when Slade added a penalty six minutes before the interval.
It took until injury time in the first half for either team to get any significant time in their opponent’s red zone, and Exeter took full advantage when Sio crashed home from close range after phase after phase of pressure on the Stade line.
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Sio grabbed a second try from close range five minutes after the restart before Melikidze responded for the hosts from a similar distance six minutes into his first period of pressure on the Exeter line.
Exeter’s discipline began to slip under increasing pressure from the hosts, and following a five-metre lineout following a fourth consecutive penalty, Motassi fired in from a meter with 20 minutes remaining.
In another penalty lineout, Fisilau brought down a maul, and when Pearson did the same seconds later, Exeter were reduced to 13 men and awarded a penalty try.
They were behind within three minutes, when Barre fed Joe Jonas, who put Laloi in the right corner for Stade’s extra point attempt.
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Slade put Exeter back in front with his drop goal but another penalty, after Will Haydon-Wood was penalized for holding when Immanuel Feyi-Waboso decided to pass to the fly half instead of kicking, sealed his fate when Barre kicked what turned out to be the winning points.
Exeter director of rugby Rob Baxter told BBC Radio Devon:
“It developed in a strange way. We have a scrum in opposition territory and we’re calling for a forward selection and we come straight out of the scrum, but we have our eight forwards in the scrum, and it’s just one of those weird things when you say ‘Why are we doing it?’ and then they turn us over in the first ruck.
“We get penalized on that, we get penalized on the next maul, a yellow card, and suddenly the whole momentum of the game has changed.
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“That’s something we have to ask: ‘What causes the first decision? What causes the next two decisions?’ Then all of a sudden we have 13 guys on the field and they’re coming right at us.
“But what happens? We show the character taking the initiative again and we seem to regain control, but then we start doing something strange in our own half and we get punished.”
“There were some decisions I just couldn’t understand.”
French Stadium: Jonas; Laloi, Marchant, Vili, Etien; Foursans-Bourdette, Motassi; Iscaro, Nicotera, Alo-Emile, Gabrillagues (captain), Turagacoke, Scelzo, Hirigoyen, Mapu
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Replacements: GarcÃa Albo, Alo-Emile, Melikidze, Pesenti, Briatte, Delbouis, Abadie, Barre
Exeter: Wood burn; Feyi-Waboso, Slade, Rigg, Brown-Bampoe; Haydon-Wood, Chapman; Sio, Dweba, Tchumbadze, Jenkins (captain), Zambonin, Hooper, Roots, Fisilau.
Replacements: Yeandle, Goodrick-Clarke, Roots, Tuima, Pearson, James, Cairns, Coen.
Yellow card: Fisilau (64), Pearson (65)
Referee: Craig Evans (Wales)