Following Exeter Chiefs\u2019 31-21 victory over Munster at Sandy Park, here are our five takeaways from the Challenge Cup round of 16 encounter.<\/p>\n
The top line<\/p>\n
A first-half blitz of four tries and 31 unanswered points secured Exeter Chiefs<\/a>\u2018 route to the Challenge Cup<\/a> quarter-finals with Irish giants Munster<\/a> now out of all the EPCR competitions.<\/p>\n Ross Vintcent, Henry Slade, Will Rigg and Immanuel Feyi-Waboso all crossed the whitewash as Exeter dominated the opening 40 minutes of the match and punished Munster\u2019s inaccuracies in lethal fashion to take a 31-point lead into half-time.<\/p>\n Jack Crowley inspired Munster\u2019s fightback in the second half, scoring in the 49th and 75th minutes with Tadhg Beirne grabbing one of his own in between but the second-rower\u2019s yellow card soon after his five-pointer all but ended the Irish club\u2019s hopes of progressing through to the quarter-finals.<\/p>\n While Exeter weren\u2019t able to add to their tally in the second half, the damage had been done with the wind in their backs, with one of Benetton or Cardiff next on their hit list.<\/p>\n Immanuel Feyi-Waboso show<\/p>\n A statement performance from the winger in his first appearance since suffering a hamstring injury that ruled him out of the Six Nations.<\/p>\n Feyi-Waboso played just 45 minutes but dominated every minute of his return, racking up 132 running metres, beating a mind-boggling 11 defenders, many of which in a glorious run down the touchline, before cutting in field to score an absolute blinder.<\/p>\n He made three linebreaks too and wasn\u2019t troubled by anything the Munster attack threw at him either. The 23-year-old didn\u2019t miss a beat throughout his shift as Exeter shot out to a 31-0 lead before he made his way to the touchline.<\/p>\n It was box-office performance that will not only please Exeter boss Rob Baxter but England head coach Steve Borthwick too, ahead of the inaugural Nations Championship.<\/p>\n With Paul Brown-Bampoe enjoying another outstanding shift on the right wing and Campbell Ridl continuing to shine, Exeter are well stocked out wide, but today was just a reminder of how lethal Feyi-Waboso is as he was fittingly named Player of the Match.<\/p>\n He wasted no time in hitting form, and it couldn\u2019t have come at a better time with Exeter now progressing to the quarter-finals of the Challenge Cup and well placed to secure a place in the Gallagher PREM knockouts.<\/p>\n Lacklustre Munster<\/p>\n Munster\u2019s focus now turns solely to the United Rugby Championship after a dour showing in the Investec Champions Cup and the Challenge Cup this season. One win from their five pool matches meant that the club with such a proud history in the Champions Cup failed to reach the knockout stages and they did not fare any better in their only Challenge Cup fixture.<\/p>\n Clayton McMillan\u2019s men were completely outplayed in the first half, and while they fought valiantly in the second, they lacked the accuracy to really trouble the resolute Exeter defence enough, considering how they bossed possession and territory.<\/p>\n For large parts of this game, Munster\u2019s attack was unable to get over the advantage line, and when they attempted to stretch the Exeter defence, they were picked off with Slade and Rigg\u2019s tries coming from intercepts.<\/p>\n Crowley does deserve massive credit for almost single-handedly dragging Munster back into the game but he rushed his penalty kick and the gamble didn\u2019t come off, letting Exeter off the hook one final time.<\/p>\n McMillan\u2019s woes are somewhat eased by the fightback and second-half performance but that will matter little to the fans as they watched their charges limp out of Europe and now face a challenging run in the final rounds of the URC.<\/p>\n Brian O\u2019Driscoll praises \u2018unreal pro\u2019 as he reveals truth behind Geoff Parling incident<\/a><\/p>\n Are Exeter on track to be a powerhouse again?<\/p>\n Baxter\u2019s rebuild of Exeter Chiefs is gathering pace as the long-serving coach looks to be taking the club back to the glory days once again. It\u2019s a remarkable turnaround from just last season, where the Chiefs finished ninth in the PREM, winning just four of their 18 matches.<\/p>\n The 55-year-old was considering stepping away from the coaching duties last year but thankfully for the Chiefs\u2019 faithful, he didn\u2019t and just this week he signed a contract extension.<\/p>\n \u201cTo have the club be happy to extend my time here makes me proud. The key thing for me is how excited I am and how enthused I am to work with the current crop of players we have here at Chiefs as well as the players we\u2019ve already signed for next season, the young academy players coming through our pathway, and the group of coaches,\u201d Baxter said.<\/p>\n \u201cI can really see a bright future for the club. I genuinely feel we\u2019re going to be a club challenging others at the right end of the PREM and hopefully we\u2019ll grow into a team who battles it out in the latter stages of European competition in the future too.\u201d<\/p>\n Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a> for world-class coverage you can trust.<\/p>\n Exeter haven\u2019t really challenged for titles since finishing as runners-up in PREM Rugby back in 2021 but that could all change this campaign with a double very much on the cards.<\/p>\n Feyi-Waboso, Brown-Bampoe and Ridl are box-office talents in the backs but Harvey Skinner, Rigg and Slade are crucial game drivers, while Baxter has built another powerful, nasty pack spearheaded by the brilliant Dafydd Jenkins.<\/p>\n