Premiership: Exeter Chiefs 47-31 Leicester Tigers - 12 tries as 14-man Leicester push champions

Sam Simmonds got his 14th try of the season as he closes in on the all-time Premiership record

Exeter rode their luck as they beat 14-man Leicester 47-31 in the Premiership.

Harry Williams got an early first try for Exeter before Tigers had Kobus van Wyk sent off on 14 minutes.

Tom O'Flaherty, Dave Ewers and Harvey Skinner scored for Exeter after half an hour before Tomas Lavanini and Jack van Poortvliet hit back for Tigers.

Sam Simmonds, Olly Woodburn and Jacques Vermeulen got second-half Exeter tries, while Matt Scott, Hanro Liebenberg and Charlie Clare replied.

The bonus-point win sees second-placed Exeter close the gap on leaders Bristol to two points, having played a game more, while Leicester's losing try bonus point keeps them eighth, one point behind Bath.

Exeter were relentless in their pressure on Leicester in the opening 10 minutes, and having held the hosts out a couple of times, their resolve was finally broken when Williams went over from close range.

Kobus van Wyk's head-on-head clash with Jack Maunder as he gathered a high ball turned the game...

The game's turning point came when Van Wyk was sent off. While the clash of heads did not look deliberate and did not seem to hurt Maunder, referee Jack Makepeace had little option but to send the South African from the field.

Soon after, Woodburn was stopped a metre from the right corner as Exeter exploited their extra man and O'Flaherty cantered through a gap after 21 minutes for the second try.

An excellent break from O'Flaherty fed Cordero who was stopped on the line, but Dan Kelly interfered with Exeter's player on the ground and was sin-binned, and against 13 men Exeter prevailed.

Dave Ewers went over from a quick tap penalty immediately after the yellow card, and Skinner followed two minutes later after a break by Sam Simmonds.

...leaving referee Jack Makepeace with little choice but to show a red card....

But Exeter will worry about aspects of their play - Tigers turned them over with regularity and, despite having the extra man, their defence was porous at times as the Tigers took their chances, with Lavanini scoring from close range as Van Poortvliet darted over from a maul in first-half stoppage-time.

Within two minutes of the restart Exeter reasserted control as Joe Simmonds chipped over for his brother Sam to gather in for his 14th try this season, but Leicester responded straight away as Scott darted in after a great driving maul had set up field position.

...and send Van Wyk off less than 15 minutes into the game

The tries kept coming - Woodburn ended a lovely flowing move for Exeter's sixth, Clare responded for Leicester after being mauled over from a five-metre lineout, and Liebenberg got their fifth try in the right corner.

The Chiefs had Facundo Cordero sin-binned with 12 minutes left for a deliberate knock-on, but with six minutes left Vermeulen ended any lingering doubts when he went over from a metre out in the right corner.

Exeter Chiefs head coach Ali Hepher told BBC Radio Devon:

"We did a lot of things right to score that many points, equally were probably a little bit frustrated with the points we've conceded.

"Overall at the start of the day if you'd have said we'd get five points out of the game against a tough Leicester side we'd take that, so plenty to be happy with and celebrate, but also plenty to work on.

"We've had it in the past where we haven't put away sides with 14 men, we've drawn against sides with 14 men and equally we've done the same on the reverse so it is often hard.

"We were 28-0 up, even the hardest and strongest mentally can slip up a little bit there, so we understand that. Ultimately we've got to be not too disappointed about today and make sure we celebrate some great scores and great tries."

Leicester Tigers head coach Steve Borthwick told BBC Radio Leicester:

"I'm disappointed to lose the game and at the same point I think the players should be very proud of what they did in the second half and the character they showed.

"We're working very hard as a club to ensure that we stay in every battle and work exceptionally hard to ensure that we're a team that never goes away.

"That in itself is not good enough, because we want to be a winning team, not just a team that competes, so we know we've got a lot of work to do as we want to be in winning positions.

"The European champions were pretty worried, so I think there's lots to learn from it, I think we've got a lot of youngsters in the team who are learning an awful lot and it'll be very good for them in the longer term."

Exeter: Cordero; Woodburn, Skinner, Devoto, O'Flaherty; J Simmonds (capt), Maunder; Moon, Innard, Williams, Kirsten, Lonsdale, Ewers, Vermeulen, S Simmonds

Replacements: Taione, Hepburn, Street, Armand, Capstick, Hidalgo-Clyne, John, Hodge

Leicester: Steward; Van Wyk, Scott, Kelly, Porter; Henry, Van Poortvliet; Leatigaga, Clare, Heyes, Henderson, Lavanini, Brink, Reffell, Liebenberg (capt)

Replacements: Kerr, Whitcombe, De Bruin, Wells, Wallace, White, McPhillips, Potter

Referee: Jack Makepeace

• Rugby Weekly Union podcast - listen and subscribe here