Exeter Chiefs earned their first Premiership win of the season by beating Newcastle Red Bulls 34-28 at Sandy Park, despite Christian Wade scoring a hat-trick to reach 100 top-flight tries. The Guardian’s report on 11 October described a nine-try contest settled by Bachuki Tchumbadze’s late score, while England winger Immanuel Feyi-Waboso left with a hamstring problem.
Wade became only the second player to reach the century mark in the Premiership. His three tries took him within one of Chris Ashton’s career record of 101, but could not secure Newcastle a first away league victory in almost four years.
Five early tries set up a changing contest
Ross Vintcent scored twice for Exeter during an opening quarter containing five tries. His first came inside 40 seconds after a chargedown. Wade also crossed early for Newcastle before releasing Max Hicks for another try in the same corner.
Henry Slade then broke through from 40 metres and converted his own try from a wide position. Newcastle nevertheless held the lead at half-time. Exeter’s Ethan Roots had been sent to the sin-bin for a no-arms tackle on Harrison Obatoyinbo, and the visitors found another route through the Chiefs’ defence.
Jake Dalziel’s offload to Sammy Arnold created the opportunity for Wade’s second try. The 18-year-old Dalziel was making his debut and became Newcastle’s youngest Premiership player, adding a second individual milestone to Wade’s afternoon.
Exeter director of rugby Rob Baxter criticised his side’s defensive energy at the interval, according to the Guardian. After the restart, Sam Harris marked his own Chiefs Premiership debut with a try following Stephen Varney’s blindside break.
Slade’s penalty and Tchumbadze’s try settle it
The lead remained vulnerable. A loose Slade offload gave Wade the opportunity to complete his hat-trick, while a forward pass in midfield caused a potential Varney try to be disallowed after television review.
Slade recovered to put Exeter ahead with a long-range penalty into the wind with 16 minutes remaining. Georgian prop Tchumbadze then crossed from close range to make the result safe. That sequence explains how Exeter won despite conceding three tries to one opponent: the late penalty restored their lead before the prop added the decisive try.
The six-point final margin gave the Chiefs their first league win after three rounds. Wade’s career total, by contrast, is an individual achievement within a defeat. He is now on 100 Premiership tries against Ashton’s 101, a gap of one, rather than already having matched the record.
Feyi-Waboso faces assessment after injury
BBC Sport reported on 12 October that Feyi-Waboso would have a scan after coming off 15 minutes into the second half. Baxter said the winger had initially continued after reporting the problem, completed another kick chase and recovered the ball at full speed, but still did not feel right.
Baxter’s initial impression was that Feyi-Waboso had overloaded his hamstring. He described the issue as a concern rather than a clear long-term worry and said Exeter expected to scan him before assessing him early in the week.
The 23-year-old had started all three of Exeter’s league matches and scored two tries at Bath the previous week. His recent run of starts follows an absence from this year’s Six Nations after a January hamstring injury and a shoulder injury that kept him out of the second half of the 2024-25 season.
Exeter’s next European assignment is their Champions Cup opener against Toulouse. England also host Australia, Japan and New Zealand in November’s Nations Championship programme. Feyi-Waboso started all three of England’s summer fixtures in that competition, scoring against Fiji and Argentina, so Baxter’s planned assessment has relevance beyond the Newcastle result.