Exeter Chiefs player ratings from Leicester Tigers defeat - 'Best in the Premiership'

Exeter Chiefs' wonderful season came to a close with a disappointing 40-22 defeat away at Leicester Tigers on Saturday to finish in seventh place in the table.

Immanuel Feyi-Waboso’s opened the scoring with a try for Exeter, but Leicester hit back through tries for Ollie Hassell-Collins and Jack van Poortvliet to lead 20-10 at half-time. Scores from Tommy Reffell and Mike Brown effectively killed the game off for the Tigers before the Chiefs pulled back tries through Dan Frost and Ross Vintcent, who had earlier been speared by Jasper Wiese who was shown a red card in his final display for the club.

READ MORE: Rob Baxter diagnoses why Exeter Chiefs came up short at Leicester Tigers

Rugby writer Joshua Matheson takes a closer look at the individual performances from the Exeter Chiefs players...

15 Dan John – 7

The fullback had spells of really good play. Making good decisions in passing and holding onto the ball in contact. His decision to pop the ball up to Olly Woodburn before Immanuel Feyi-Waboso opened the scoring for Chiefs was crucial to the score.

14 Immanuel Feyi-Waboso – 7

Immanuel Feyi-Waboso showed more of his dynamism and fantastic finishing ability when scoring the Chiefs first try of the match. This youngster is exciting. Every time he got the ball in his hands there was a concern for the Tigers. He did however, right after Olly Woodburn returned, receive a yellow card for slapping a ball into touch. He has to be the best player in the league in his position.

13 Henry Slade – 6

Henry Slade had a half of rugby to forget. Rushing out the backline and being unable to hit his man he left gaping holes for the Tigers to burst through. Slade did get himself a handful of penalties which did keep his side in the game in moments. Not in vintage form.

12 Joe Hawkins – 5

Joe Hawkins, much like Slade in the first half, tried to blitz the Tigers. But to no avail. There wasn’t really much to report on for Hawkins of significance.

11 Olly Woodburn – 7

Olly Woodburn was the first to be sin-binned for the Exeter Chiefs when he slapped the ball down in a four-on-one situation. However, Woodburn grew further into the second half and was able to use his footwork to evade players on numerous occasions. He also made the most metres in the backline.

10 Harvey Skinner – 6

After a player of the match display last weekend, the fly-half was shown a yellow card at the bitter end of the game. The stand-off did take the distributing duties on well. Defensively he made nine tackles but missed four. Exeter’s attack looked good in stages, but ultimately it wasn’t inventive enough to overcome the hard defence.

9 Tom Cairns – 7

Tom Cairns started the match brightly. A box-kick that applied some real pressure against the run of play in the first few minutes. His footwork to dazzle his way through the ruck and beyond Freddie Steward was impressive late in the first half. He was brought off ten minutes into the second half and didn’t make a huge impact in those final stages of his spell.

1 Scott Sio – 6

Scott Sio during his time on the field offered a destructive edge when carrying the ball. The Australian topped the metres-made stats in the front row. Apart from this, he was absent throughout, and struggled at the opposing scrums.

2 Max Norey – 5

Max Norey’s lineout operated to a decent standard, but the hooker only completed 50 percent of his tackles and struggled to get into the game.

3 Marcus Street – 4

Marcus Street had a very quiet game. He held his own when scrummaging, but failed to make dents with the ball in hand, and didn’t make many tackles either.

4 Jack Dunne – 5

Jack Dunne got his hands on a few of the oppositions’ lineout ball, however, didn’t offer much in the loose.

5 Dafydd Jenkins – 7

The captain was disruptive, alongside Jack Dunne, at lineout time. One important steal came on his five-metre line when Leicester looked poised to rumble over. The lock completed the most tackles (14) out of any Chiefs player. Some bright decisions were made to attempt to keep the scoreboard ticking also.

6 Ethan Roots - 4

The England international had an off day as he struggled to keep a hold of the ball when making carries in the first half. Twice he knocked it on and that extinguished any flow in attack. Overall, a disappointing performance from the blindside as he was brought off just before the hour mark.

7 Jacques Vermeulen – 8

Jacques Vermeulen completed nine tackles and only missed one all afternoon. In what was a disappointing performance from the Chiefs as a whole, the openside shone. The score line could have been a different story if it wasn’t for the jackling of Vermeulen.

8 Greg Fisilau – 6

The number eight struggled to make an impact with the ball in hand in the first half and knocked the ball on when it came his way. In the second half, his highlight was a charge down and gallop towards the line. Other than this, the normally dynamic and destructive ball carrier was quiet by his own recent high standards.

Replacements

16 Dan Frost – 7

Dan Frost arrived off the bench and showed us glimpses of adding speed and power to the game. He took the quick tap penalty which set up Ross Vincent’s try. Frost also got a try for himself.

17 Billy Keast – N/A

18 Ehren Painter – 7

Ehren Painter was brought down close to the line in the 58 ^th minute. He was a part of the heavy machinery which helped Frost’s try.

19 Christ Tshiunza – 7

Christ Tshiunza added some illusive ball carrying and intense tackling that was lacking before his arrival.

20 Ross Vincent – 7

Ross Vincent was a menace at the breakdown after he was deployed to the field. A try scorer, a 100 percent tackle operator, and some sturdy ball carrying.

21 Niall Armstrong – 6

Niall Armstrong continued the decent work of Tom Cairns, and hoisted a good few box kicks,that were competitive.

22 Will Haydon-Wood – N/A

23 Zack Wimbush – N/A