European Challenge Cup
Exeter (19) 31
Tries: Tchumbadze 2, Dweba, Heaven, Brown-Bampoe Cons: Slade 3
Cardiff (0) 0
Bachuki Tchumbadze scored an early brace of tries as Exeter Chiefs overcame a reshuffled Cardiff side to book a home tie in the last 16 of the European Challenge Cup.
The Chiefs’ tighthead prop went over twice at Sandy Park before hooker Joseph Dweba extended their lead to 19-0 at the break.
Exeter revamped their forward line after a sluggish start to the second half and Dweba’s replacement Julian Heaven scored a further try to secure a bonus point.
Paul Brown-Bampoe dived over for the Chiefs’ fifth try late on, with Henry Slade adding three conversions.
With Cardiff making 10 changes to their line-up, the home side quickly set about their task, applying pressure and forcing an early flood of penalties.
Although the visitors escaped punishment for what looked a high tackle on Harvey Skinner, Exeter immediately regrouped at a lineout and Tchumbadze burrowed over for the opening score.
A foul on Varney then earned Cardiff’s Rory Thornton a trip to the sin-bin – and, by the time the second row returned to the field, his side were trailing by 19 points.
Tchumbadze’s second try of the game was confirmed by TMO Marius Jonker and just a few minutes later, another dominant lineout and drive resulted in Dweba forcing his way over in the corner.
That gave the Chiefs a commanding lead at the turnaround but Cardiff raised their game at the start of the second period, running the ball to good effect and gaining territory as they forced the hosts back.
It looked as though Cardiff would gain some reward for their efforts when Ioan Lloyd sent a chip through for Tom Bowen to gather and dot down – only for the try to be ruled out for a knock-on in the build-up.
Instead, it was Exeter who scored again after Ethan Roots won possession at the lineout and Heaven darted away to dive over the whitewash.
The Chiefs finished the game with a flourish as Skinner’s crafty ball set up Brown-Bampoe to complete the scoring late on.
Exeter: Woodburn; Feyi-Waboso, Slade, Haydon-Wood, Brown-Bampoe; Skinner, Varney, Sio, Dweba, Tchumbadze, Jenkins, Zambonin, Hooper, E Roots, James.
Replacements: Heaven, Goodrick-Clarke, J Roots, Tuima, Pearson, Capstick, Chapman, Hammersley.
Cardiff: Beetham; Grady, Smit, Jennings, Bowen; I Lloyd, Mulder; Southworth, E Lloyd, Wainwright, McNally, Thornton, Botham, Thomas, Basham.
Replacements: Hughes, Domachowski, Sebastian, Nott, Lawrence, Cottle, Davies, Winnett.
Referee: Griffin Colby
