Table toppers Exeter battle to thrilling Swansea win

Top of the table Exeter battled to a thrilling 31-26 BUCS  Premier South A victory over Swansea at Sketty Lane.

On a frosty afternoon it was very much a game of two halves, with the visitors having the better of the first having looked the more threatening from the outset, with scrum-half Robert Coote keeping the Swansea defence on their toes.

A quick tap penalty from Coote nearly sent Toby Bain clear, but the centre was unable to gather the ball with the line at his mercy.

With Exeter dominating proceedings Swansea did show some promise of their own, however, as Ben Thomas and Ianto Griffiths combined well to penetrate the Exeter defence and drive Swansea into their opponents’ 22.

Having watched Swansea a couple of times already this season, I have noticed that they have been prone to switching off at line-outs, and this was once again the case today as Coote collected the tap-down to drive through the middle and cross unopposed for Exeter’s opening try. Alistair Chisholm added the simple conversion.

With their tails up, the table-toppers began to run the ball from all areas but in doing so, they let Swansea right back into the game with centre Ben Mitchell intercepting a floated pass out-wide to race home – Griffiths’ extras drawing the sides level.

Exeter regrouped and were ahead moments later, however, as Bain showed great pace to get on the outside of the drift defence and touchdown out-wide to restore Exeter’s lead.

The English side continued to press before the break with Swansea’s Liam Myatt and Sam Soul forced into making try-saving tackles, but the Green and Whites’ defence was to succumb again in the closing stages of the opening half.

Following sustained pressure, second row Ben King barged his way over to double Exeter’s lead going into the interval.

After the break, Swansea emerged a much more determined outfit with some bone-crunching hits from Reuben Tucker and James McWilliams-Grey setting the tone for the hosts.

Richard Lancaster’s men were rewarded for their intensity just five minutes into the half, when prop Myatt crashed over from close range.

At this stage, there was only one side in it with Swansea dominating the scrum after the introduction of Steff Jones up front and McWilliams-Grey and Tucker gaining the hard yards in the loose.

Against the run of play, however, Exeter looked to break from their own 22 with Swansea winger Hugo Jafari adjudged to have deliberately knocked-on to halt the attack and was yellow carded for his crime.

With a man down, the momentum switched and now Exeter were the ones on the front foot as Aaron Straminski hacked through and outpaced the cover defence to touchdown.

But yet another twist was to come as Swansea failed to lie down and after a series of phases, hit back through a McWilliams-Grey touchdown.

Exeter attempted to regain their composure, reclaiming the ball before being rewarded for their endeavour with what proved to be a vital Chisholm penalty to give them some breathing space.

Still two scores down and with five minutes remaining, Swansea knew they needed something special and Myatt produced: a barn-storming run down the left wing saw the prop brush aside tackle after tackle to set-up replacement Connor Lloyd, who duly crashed over to set up a grandstand finish.

The Green and Whites desperately tried to put together one last meaningful attack but the visitors stood firm to seal a well-deserved seventh win of their campaign.

Swansea: Tries: B Mitchell 21, L Myatt 45, J McWilliams- Grey 70, C Lloyd 76; Cons: I Grffiths 21,45, B Thomas 70.

Exeter: Tries: R Coote 17, T Bain 27, B King 39, A Straminski 63; Cons: A Chisholm 17,27, 63, F Gillies 39; Pens: A Chisholm 75.