Exeter captain Richard Baxter added: “Northampton are a team we aspire to be and after today’s performance we are clearly not too far off it. Now we will go back and keep on improving as we too look to do what Northampton have done and get into the Guinness Premiership."

Northampton started at a furious pace and were unlucky not to put any points on the board in the first minute of the game. But Exeter defended as furiously and held the Saints out until the 16th minute when centre Joe Ansbro finally broke the duck.

The score came following a nicely taken line-out, catch and drive five metres out from Exeter’s line. The Saints couldn’t push their way over the line though and instead recycled the ball out into the midfield for wing Paul Diggin to set-up Ansbro who found space to dive his way over the line. Reihana added the conversion.

But Saints’ seven point lead was short lived when Exeter caught Northampton napping straight after the restart. Exeter took their opportunities and soon found themselves deep in Saints’ 22 with hooker Sam Blythe going close before flanker Chad Slade touched down. Substitute Tony Yapp added the conversion to draw the scores level before taking the lead for Exeter with a 21st minute penalty.

With Northampton on the back foot, they piled up the pressure before the break and their reward finally came when wing Diggin executed a clever exchange of passes between himself and Chris Ashton before going over in the left corner. Reihana missed the conversion, but added the penalty to hand Northampton the 15-10 lead at the break.

Exeter continued to cause Northampton problems after the restart and in the end it was only the boot of Reihana that kept the Saints ahead. The former All Blacks player stroked over three penalties to take a 24-10 lead.

Exeter pushed the Saints until the end though and even with just minutes remaining on the clock they were camped on Northampton’s line. They were unlucky to have a try held up and in the end they had to settle with Yapp adding a final penalty to make the final score 24-13.

Northampton Saints: 1 Tom Smith, 2 Dylan Hartley, 3 Barry Stewart, 4 Matt Lord, 5  Alex Rae, 6 Mark Easter, 7 Ben Lewitt, 8 Mark Hopley, 9 Johnny Howard, 10  Carlos Spencer, 11 Paul Diggin, 12 James Downey, 13 Joe Ansbro, 14 Chris Ashton, 15 Bruce Reihana. Replacements: 16 Paul Shields, 17 Soane Tonga’uiha, 18  Euan Murray, 19 Paul Tupai, 20 Darren Fox, 21 Mark Robinson, 22 Stephen Myler,

Tries: Ashbro, Diggin. Conversion: Reihana. Penalties: Reihana 4

Exeter Chiefs: 1 Dan Parkes, 2 Sam Blythe, 3 Brett Sturgess, 4 Lewis Stevenson, 5 James Hanks, 6 Chad Slade, 7 Andy Miller, 8 Richie Baxter (capt), 9 Clive Stuart Smith, 10 Wade Kelly, 11 Josh Drauninui, 12  Junior Fatialofa, 13 Mark Fatialofa, 14 Jason Luff, 15 Gary Kingdom. Replacements: 16 Simon Jenkins, 17 Craig Dunlea, 18 Chris Bentley, 19 Tom Johnson, 20 Kevin Barrett, 21 Tony Yapp, 22 Alan Miller
 
Scorers: Tries: Slade. Conversion: Yapp. Penalties: Yapp 2