After a quick turnaround from their win over London Scottish, Exeter Chiefs were straight back into action at Sandy Park as Cornish Pirates took to the field for the second game of a pre-season Double Header. Chiefs changed the script at the beginning of the second game, getting their names firmly on the scoresheet first. Dan John broke on the wing with Paul Brown-Bampoe on his shoulder. Taking the feed from his full-back, the winger turned on the burners to reach the line ahead of the back-tracking Pirates defence. Despite Jacques Vermeulen being the scorer, the second Chiefs try was all Dan Frost. Footwork and physicality from the hooker saw him carve his way through the Pirates half, giving a one-handed offload to the game’s captain to complete the score. Pirates got their first score of the day through former Chief, Arthur Relton. A ball meant for Will Rigg was torn out of the air at his fingertips by Relton who had a clear run-in to the base of the posts. The conversion was then a simple one for Bruce Houston. Some tricks are just born of experience, and Olly Woodburn offloading a chip kick he had just leaped to catch while still in mid-air was the perfect example of one. His skill meant the ball landed perfectly into the grasp of an on-rushing Zack Wimbush who ate up the distance left between him and the line. It was mere minutes before Woodburn had a try of his own. Quick interchange from Frost, Skinner and Vermeulen put Chiefs within range of the line and a last offload to Woodburn saw the veteran player flying over at the corner flag. A good read of the Pirates back-field saw Skinner decide to chip a kick cross-field to Brown-Bampoe on the wing. The former BUCS Super Rugby player then jink-stepped two defenders to run the ball around underneath the posts, sealing an easy conversion for his fly half. The hattrick belong to Brown-Bampoe just minutes later. Will Rigg recovered an errant ball to break from his own half. He put Chiefs into space before using his teammate’s supporting line to secure the try. The conversion curved around nicely from five metres inside the touchline as Skinner added the extra points and bring the first half to an end. Half-time: Chiefs 34 – 7 Pirates It was a slightly messy start to the second half as handing errors hampered both sides from getting any kind of foothold in their attacking sets. The first score of the second half almost didn’t come off. Rigg put boot to ball on the Pirates 10 metre line, and it originally looked like the Chiefs centre had put too much power into the kick. However, the bounce of the ball stuttered underneath the uprights, holding it within the field’s bounds for Rigg to turn on the after burners and reach it in time for the score. Skinner took the conversion to make it the full contingent of points. Pirates cracked double digits on the scoreboard just after the hour mark as a driving maul steadily trucked towards the line. Morgan Nelson held the ball steady at the back to dive over the line for the five points. Pirates snuck a third try over the line with 10 minutes left on the clock. As Chiefs looked to continue defending the maul drive, Harry Yates snuck off the rear to cross for the score. Chiefs responded immediately. Quickly working their way into the Pirates half, the forwards used brute strength on the line and, after a check with the touch judge, replacement Lucas Dorrell was awarded the try. A mistimed tackle from Vermeulen saw the Chiefs back rower fly out of the line, leaving himself little time to wrap the arms. As his adversary left the field with the physios, the Chiefs man was shown a yellow card. Pirates used the momentum of being a man-up to head for the corner, using quick hands off the lineout to cross for a fourth try which Iwan Jenkins converted. Full-time: Chiefs 46 – 24 Pirates Exeter Chiefs began their pre-season campaign with two solid wins over Championship teams London Scottish and Cornish Pirates on Saturday. The second-tier sides gave a decent account of themselves, however Exeter proved too strong in the end as they racked up an aggregate score of 91-43 in front of a decent 7,900-strong Sandy Park crowd. Here are our five key takeaways from the Exeter Chiefs double-header victory. ## A Strong Set-Piece Exeter’s set-piece really came on last year, but it looked to have improved even from that in this double header. In the opener against London Scottish, all areas of the set-piece functioned to frightening levels. They dominated the scrum, winning a number of penalties in the process, and the lineout also looked a lot cleaner and tidier than in previous seasons. Exeter had also developed a reputation for the lineout maul, and they used this to good effect against Scottish, grabbing two direct tries from driving mauls and getting another two after mauling close to the line as well. The second match of the day saw Exeter continue this set-piece dominance, especially in the scrum. New recruit Will Goodrick-Clarke stood out in this area, winning several penalties in the early exchanges and could be a big part of the scrum moving forward. ## Depth in the Midfield Exeter will be without star man Henry Slade for the opening rounds of the Premiership, but if today’s showing is anything to go by they should still have a classy midfield. Joe Hawkins looked incredibly sharp with ball-in-hand, and produced some lovely carries against London Scottish. His partner for the day, Ben Hammersley, also chipped in with some decent touches on both sides of the ball, and got himself on the scoresheet for his troubles. Nick Lilley, who came on as a blood replacement for Hammersley, also made a good impact and grabbed a fine try too. In the second fixture, Wimbush and Will Rigg looked a settled unit, and connected well with each other. On their own, they also made significant inroads through the Pirates defence, utilising their huge frames to good effect. ## A Variety of Attacking Options It was certainly a pleasing sign for the Chiefs faithful, seeing their team pull off two different types of wins in a solid afternoon in the Devon sunshine. In the first match against London Scottish, the Chiefs’ attack was very set-piece focussed. They dominated the maul to good effect and used this to help them secure a number of tries. This was done in a slightly different style though, with the Chiefs utilising the full width of the pitch to good effect. Paul Brown-Bampoe, Olly Woodburn and Zach Wimbush all got themselves on the scoresheet after some scintillating breaks out wide. ## A Wide-Open Defence A side is never the finished article in pre-season, and if you are you’ve probably done something wrong; and the Chiefs still need to fix a couple of things ahead of the season. Exeter have introduced a blitz defence in the past couple of years, which is instinctively narrow; but they were particularly narrow in both of the pre-season fixtures today, but especially against Scottish. At times, the Chiefs’ widest defender was on the 15 metre line, which gave the opposition so much space out wide. The Londoners utilised this to good effect in the early part of the opening game, as Noah Ferdinand broke down the wing multiple times. Fly-half Tom Wilstead also produced some lovely cross-field kicks to exploit the space out wide, which got London on the upper hand a couple of times. This issue also came up against the Pirates, and whilst it wasn’t seen as often, it will still be a cause for concern how easy it is for teams to get around the Exeter defence. ## A Strong Squad Depth A number of fresh faces made the step up to the senior fold in this pre-season double header, and here is a run-down of those who caught the eye the most. Joe Bailey: Physical in the contact, and came up with some cute offloads to keep the attack alive. Martin Maloney: Got heavily involved in most areas of the game, and importantly looked really comfortable against a physical Scottish side. Will be one to keep an eye on moving forward. Kane James: Strong carries in the tight and made a lot of work for himself. Also capped off a tidy display with a try. Campbell Ridl: Pacey winger and really looked to break away whenever he touched the ball. Also made some nice cover tackles. Noah Fenton: Looked a constant threat out wide, and used his speed to good effect to get around the Londoners’ defence. Grabbed a try, but could easily have had more too. Paul Brown-Bampoe: A powerful, pacy winger with the ability to dance around defenders. Notched a superb hat-trick in the first-half, and made himself the focal point of the Chiefs attack against the Pirates. Pre-season games are always hard to judge, but Exeter can certainly feel very happy with their afternoon’s work. ## A New Look Team? Exeter Chiefs have announced the signing of former Junior All Blacks centre Tamati Tua, who joins from the Brumbies ahead of the Premiership season. Louis Chapman-Coombe makes his Planet Rugby debut selecting the Ultimate Exeter Chiefs XV. Exeter boss Baxter sympathised with Harlequins after his side sealed a 58-26 victory at Sandy Park to stay in the hunt for the Premiership play-offs. Rob Baxter says that the Premiership should be aiming to match Leinster and the United Rugby Championship's ambition following confirmation of Jordie Barrett's move.