Crucial bonus point achieved at Hornets struggle to fire

Exeter University coach Gareth Elliott was delighted his side were able to maintain their unbeaten record at Hinckley on Saturday, with a performance which combined some exciting attack and aggressive defensive play.

Elliott said: ‘we had two tight games against Hinckley last year and we knew the physical pressure they would put on us. The pack really fronted up and that gave us the platform to allow us to be really aggressive in both attack and defence giving us some fantastic foundations for the victory. I was particular pleased with intensity we managed to show throughout the game which meant when Hinckley felt they might have been getting back in we shut it down’.

Hinckley were the first on the board after 12 minutes with a powerful finish from Morgan Tunneycliff, but Exeter struck back with two quick tries, one of which was converted by Ben Coen. The first was a cleverly taken finish from Orson James, and the second a excellent finish from Zack Windrush.

Hinckley then took the lead back through Dale Bowyer, continuing his excellent try scoring from through the maul, which was converted by Archie Heard having also successfully kicked the first one.

However is was visitors who took a three point lead into the break with Charlie McCaig, who was a threat all through the half scoring 7 minutes before the interval.

The visitors then came out firing collecting the bonus point in the early stages of the half when the captain Louis Dorrell powered over and soon after the game was all but done when Benjy Joseland went over from short range and McCaig picked up a second.

Hinckley just about managed to stay in touch although at this point the game wasn’t in doubt - Tom Hughes scored his first try for the club with a close range maul finish and Sam Everett managed to secure a bonus point with a strong finish with 5 minutes to go.

The last word however did go to the visitors with Will Smears scoring, and Coen kicking his 4th successful conversation of the afternoon.

Exeter were well deserving off their win and now face the tricky challenge of managing their BUCS programme and the National League team as a number of the players from this XV are likely to represent that in the coming weeks, whilst Hinckley will next week be on the road to Newport.