Following Leicester’s 24-10 defeat to Exeter at Sandy Park, here is how we rated Geoff Parling’s men in Sunday’s PREM Rugby clash.
Leicester player ratings v Exeter
15 Freddie Steward: Clear leader in his team’s ball carry tally, but it was ultimately a frustrating ordeal summed up by him smacking the turf with his hand after an upsetting 55th-minute knock on and then getting beaten in the air by Olly Woodburn for the win-sealing Stephen Varney try for Exeter on 72 minutes. 5
14 Adam Radwan: Chiefs’ Immanuel Feyi-Waboso was the afternoon’s barometer in how a winger should busy himself without the ball. Took Radwan 24 minutes before he showed up in play and while he wasn’t to blame for the defeat, it wasn’t as if he was offering genuine solutions to prevent it from happening. 5
13 Izaia Perese: A 61-minute curate’s egg of an effort. Was at fault for the second Exeter try for needlessly biting in in defence and leaving the remaining cover painfully exposed. However, saved his team what would have been a 0-21 first-half deficit as an off-the-ball push on him was generously deemed enough to cancel Harvey Skinner’s virtuoso score. 5
12 Solomone Kata: Lasted only 32 minutes, his hamstring giving way on chase back for the ruled out Skinner score. Offered nothing in attack but had ignited a try-saving counter ruck in the early exchanges. 5
11 Ollie Hassell-Collins: Tried to keep enthusiastic in the carry despite zero tangible reward. His 14th-minute knock-on when tackled by Feyi-Waboso was an example. Wielded better influence in a Leicester defence when he was even moved to inside centre for a while, coming up with a try-saving tackle on fumbling Campbell Ridl at the death to help deny Exeter a four-try bonus point. 6
10 Billy Searle: Spent this Gallagher PREM afternoon eclipsed by opposite number Skinner. Was gritty in what he tried to do, such as a super kick to the corner before the interval. However, it was his yellow-carded try-saver on Skinner that ignited the pressure that ultimately led to Exeter’s third try before his return. 6
9 Tom Whiteley: A short-lived, 32-minute afternoon where his pass was the only thing he had to offer. It was his charged down seventh-minute clearance kick that ignited the pressure that got Exeter into a lead they never lost. 5
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Forwards
8 Olly Cracknell: The sort of defender who should be in any team’s selection. Check out an early try-saver on Greg Fisilau or his scurry back to deny Henry Slade near half-time. However, his hands weren’t as dependable across his 51-minute involvement as there were two soft knock-ons before he gave Cameron Henderson the assist for the lone Leicester try. 6
7 Tommy Reffell: Was leading the Leicester resistance in the tackle until his technique left him down on the blow of a half-time and a bang to the head ended his game. 6
6 Joaquin Moro: An 80-minute glue player – along with Ollie Chessum – whose relentlessness made sure this wasn’t a hammering. His firefighting was a good spectacle. See the 63rd-minute ruck turnover he generated near his line and then the tackle he shared with sub Will Hurd to make sure Will Goodrick-Clarke fumbled the ball in the act of scoring. That denied Exeter their four-try bonus point in the final play. 7
5 Ollie Chessum (c): If you were to rate the England lock on the very obvious, you’d be shaking your head in frustration over incidents such as the territory-losing penalty given up for a poor high tackle on Feyi-Waboso. However, Sunday at Sandy Park was a day for Tigers fighting in the trenches and his work rate was a prime reason that the margin of defeat was only a respectable 14 points. 7
4 Cameron Henderson: Another of the forwards with an engine that kept running until the finish, but his effort was another curate’s egg example. It was his terrible missed tackle that allowed Fisilau a clear run at the Leicester line to score on 10 minutes, but his eagerness for redemptive involvement was clear in the run he made to take Cracknell’s 35-minute pass and score. 6
3 Joe Heyes: After his November heroics with England, this was quite a contrast. Scrum penalties for collapsing wounded his ego, especially the second concession as Exeter punished the infringement by kicking three points. Having become a Test regular in 2025, he is now expected to consistently stand out as one of Leicester’s leading players no matter the situation, but he got lost here in his 51 minutes in the Devon gloom. 4
2 Jamie Blamire: Would have felt deflated by the lineout that went uncaught by Leicester and provided Exeter with the possession they used to create their second try. That one moment, though, wasn’t a true reflection of his decent standard of play, the highlight of which was his sweet delayed pass to Cracknell to create Tigers’ try. 6
1 Nicky Smith: Up against a ginormous Georgian tighthead, he gave up a scrum penalty collapse in the first half of an outing where he didn’t shine as much as he had been doing this season. 4
Replacements: Leicester were creaking, 21-0 down when they made two first-half changes. With TMO review immediately resetting the margin back to 14 points on review, a huge Orlando Bailey break was central to their quick-fire try response down the other end. The tempo-increasing Jack van Poortvliet then produced a super try-saving poach on the stroke of half-time, but some other changes weren’t as effective. For example, Sam Williams, their third opening half sub, was sin-binned 11 minutes into the second half, but enough was collectively achieved by the bench on the back foot to ensure this was a face-saving three tries to one defeat. 6