Another week, another crazily fluctuating Premiership contest. If Exeter thought their last-gasp win over Leicester on the season’s opening day was dramatic it had nothing on this final act in which the Chiefs’ Christ Tshiunza clinched a breathless victory for his 14-man side after a resurgent Quins had looked to have burgled an improbable win of their own.
The 20-year-old Tshiunza had already contributed one spectacular galloping try when, with just seconds left, the ball again found him wide on the left. The Welsh international lock still had much to do but sensationally skinned the cover to touch the ball down, only for the referee, Ian Tempest, to ask the television match official to check a pass way back upfield. Happily for the Chiefs, the footage of Stuart Hogg’s offload to Patrick Schickerling was eventually deemed to be “inconclusive” and the hosts duly stayed unbeaten, level with Bristol at the top of the table. Quins’ head coach, Tabai Matson, described the ruling as “frustrating” but his opposite number, Ali Hepher, insisted the officials had been spot on.
