Premiership Rugby Cup: Exeter Chiefs 46-3 Sale Sharks - hosts cruise into final

Welsh wing Immanuel Feyi-Waboso scored the fifth of Exeter's six tries

Exeter Chiefs will face London Irish in the Premiership Rugby Cup final after cruising past Sale Sharks at Sandy Park in their semi-final.

Three tries in eight minutes from Santiago Grondona, Sean O'Brien and Rus Tuima put Exeter 24-3 up at the break.

Iwan Jenkins had earlier levelled with a penalty after Sale's Tom Curtis opened the scoring.

Further tries in the second half from Tom Wyatt, Immanuel Feyi-Waboso and Dan Frost tries completed a handsome win.

Exeter will face Irish at their Gtech Community Stadium home in the final on Sunday, 19 March.

While beaten heavily, Sale's attention quickly turns back to their league ambitions with the side second in the Premiership table.

• London Irish beat Northampton to seal final return

Exeter, led by skills coach Ricky Pellow, handed 31-year-old forward Mike Williams his debut and started with Argentina international Grondona at number eight in a largely youthful side that included Welsh teenager Jenkins at fly-half.

Sale's academy coach Gareth Harris has guided Sharks through the competition, and similarly mixed emerging talent with experience. Scrum-half Will Cliff, 34, was called on for the first time in over a year, while teenage flankers Will Riley and Tristan Woodman made their first starts.

Curtis kicked the first points of the game after Chiefs full-back Tom Wyatt was sin-binned for a deliberate knock-on.

Despite being a man down, Exeter levelled soon after through a Jenkins penalty.

Grondona gave the hosts the lead for the first time, bursting through a gap after a quick tap penalty to cross for the opening try.

O'Brien's score moments later, following an excellent break and offload from Wyatt, stunned Sale further before Tuima crashed over from a maul to help Exeter into a 21-point half-time lead.

Cliff's yellow card for a deliberate knock-on left Sale exposed early in the second half.

And Wyatt was quick to punish them, stepping beyond two attempted tackles before reaching over to score.

The excellent Feyi-Waboso was even more evasive as he blazed down the right wing for their fifth try in the 68th minute, and there was still time for Frost to put the seal on a comprehensive win.

Exeter Chiefs: Wyatt; Feyi-Waboso, O'Brien, Hendrickson, O'Loughlin; Jenkins, Cairns; Southworth, Innard, Schickerling; Williams, Pearson, Tuima, Davis, Grondona.

Replacements: Frost, Kenny, Iosefa-Scott, Bailey, Leatherbarrow, James, Whitten, Cordero.

Sale Sharks: Woodward; McGuigan, James, Hill, Gourlay; Curtis, Cliff; Onasanya, Taylor, Oosthuizen; Birch, Groves, Riley, Woodman, Dugdale.

Replacements: Thompson, Carlile, Ford, Murphy, Nkonge, Wootton, Wilkinson, Bedlow.

Referee: Hamish Smales.

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