Opposition view: Hepher happy with fight Exeter showed against Saints

Saints celebrated a hard-fought win against Exeter

Head coach Ali Hepher felt the losing bonus point his Exeter Chiefs side claimed at cinch Stadium at Franklin's Gardens on Friday night was 'par for the course'.

The Chiefs almost left with nothing but were given a consolation by George Furbank's last-gasp penalty miss.

It didn't matter to Saints as they celebrated a hard-fought 26-19 success on home soil.

And Hepher was not too disheartened about the outcome from an Exeter point of view, feeling his side were left short by in-game injuries to Ian Whitten and Olly Woodburn.

“I was really pleased with the fight and attitude and to get a bonus point away at a tough place like Northampton is probably par for the course," Hepher said.

“We were on the receiving end of some tough penalty calls in the scrums but our young group made a few errors, which need tightening up.

“They learned some good lessons but we could have won the game when we took the lead in the second half but we immediately made an error to concede another score.

“Losing Olly and Ian with injuries has left us really short. Five weeks ago we had no players out but with international call-ups and now injuries, we are up against it.”