By Matt Hardy
Aidon Davis’ extra time try handed Exeter Chiefs a 24-20 win in the Premiership Rugby Cup final and condemned London Irish to a second consecutive final defeat in the competition.
Ignacio Ruiz and Jack Innard exchanged tries early on before Argentina front-row Ruiz scored his second to hand London Irish the lead in Brentford.
The Londoners – who lost to Worcester on tries scored after a 25-25 draw in last year’s final – led 14-10 at half-time but the two sides finished the match 17 points apiece.
Chiefs on a roll
Jacob Atkins dissected the posts early on in extra time to hand Irish a 17-20 lead but Davis crossed the whitewash ahead of extra time half-time to seal the win – France-bound Joe Simmonds was successful with the conversion.
Exeter last won this competition in 2018 with yesterday’s success their first piece of silverware since they did the domestic-European double in the 2019-20 season.
Irish were looking to win their first top flight trophy in 20 years.
“Full credit to London Irish, they were a hell of a side and they put us under a lot of pressure,” Exeter skills coach Ricky Pellow said.
“We’ve just been in the dressing room singing our song and I think it’s the loudest it’s ever been, just because the boys knew how much it meant to everyone and to the club as well.
“There were points where we thought they were going to pull a bigger lead away from us, but what we did do was keep within a score, and when we went into extra time our set-piece got a bit of clarity back and that allowed us to take territory.
“Credit to both clubs that they picked the players that went into the group stages and got them into the final, and what a hell of a game.”
London Irish assistant Declan Danaher said: “I’m massively proud, 48 guys have been involved in the competition and it’s testament to all of them that we got here today.
“I think my feeling now, and it’s one I’ll remind myself of tomorrow morning, is that we’d rather be in these games than not – you’ve got to be in the mix to win it.
“It’s all part of the journey for us at the moment, and it doesn’t feel like it right now, but we’ll be better for it at some point in the future.
“It just felt as though the door was getting firmly slammed constantly in our faces and that’s a testament to Exeter as a team and congratulations to them, it’s a hell of a win.”
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