It's game day.
Exeter Chiefs head north to the Salford Stadium on Sunday to take on Sale Sharks in Round 14 of the 2023/24 Gallagher Premiership.
Chiefs come into the match after beating Newcastle Falcons 25-16 win at Sandy Park last Saturday to sit fourth in the table heading into the weekend but Rob Baxter knows his side will have to be much better to win at Sale.
The Sharks lost 42-24 away at Bath in Round 13 but the contest was much tighter than the final scoreline suggests with the sides deadlocked at 24-24 on the hour mark.
The game kicks off at 3pm on Sunday.
Follow all the build-up, team news, live play-by-play match updates, reaction, stats, analysis and highlights from The Salford Stadium with regular updates below...
Key Events
Reaction from Exeter Chiefs director of rugby Rob Baxter
Baxter said: “
"It was the first half that really disappointed me as we allowed Sale to play exactly the game they wanted by slowing the game down.
“So many little things went wrong including giving away silly little penalties, needlessly pushing people in the back, and all these errors allowed Sale easy field-position.”
“We were off today in too many areas to give ourselves any realistic chance of winning as every time we lost the ball, we followed it up by giving away a penalty.
“We were shell-shocked at half-time but we grouped and with 15 or 20 minutes to go, I thought we had a realistic chance of getting a bonus point.
“However, we have to take our hiding and move on as there are days when you get it wrong.”
Match action
FULL TIME - Sale Sharks 41 Exeter Chiefs 5
Exeter are put out of their misery.
Sale Sharks earn their first win since Christmas in emphatic fashion.
41-5
Intercepted
That sums up Exeter Chiefs' day.
The visitors win a penalty and kick deep in to the Sale 22.
But they lose the ball at the lineout and Sam Dugdale gathers and smashes a kick down-field for his team mates to chase.
Josh Hodge gets back but Exeter have lost 90m of territory.
Dan Frost then goes off his feet at the ruck in desperation to secure it to concede a penalty.
41-5
Sale will finish with 14 men
Sale director of rugby Alex Sanderson has already emptied his bench and Joe Carpenter can't play on, limping off.
The hosts will have to play a man down. A 36-point advantage will certainly help them.
41-5
Olly Woodburn lucky not to see yellow
Exeter lose the ball at a line out in their own 22 and Sale are straight on the attack.
There is an overlap on but Olly Woodburn gets into the passing lane to block the pass. He drops it but the officials decide it was a valid attempt to catch the ball and just award a scrum for a knock on.
Chiefs then win a penalty at the setpiece with a big shove at the setpiece.
41-5
Try saving tackle
Ross Vintcent is so fast.
Brilliant hands puts Tom O’Flaherty away down the left wing and he looks favourite to run the ball home but the Italian international gets back to drag the former Chief into touch.
41-5
Who was he passing to?
Exeter are playing some much sharper attacking rugby, making ground as they offload their way through Sale.
But the latest assault breaks down as Henry Slade flings a wide miss-pass to no one which ends up bouncing into touch.
That is the very definition of forcing it when it is not on.
41-5
Monster defence from Sale
Exeter Chiefs go through 25 phases of attack but are repeatedly smashed backwards by Sale Sharks, with Raffi Quicke rocking back the head of Henry Slade in the middle of it.
The ball is worked wide with Ross Vintcent looking to slip the ball to Immanuel Feyi-Waboso but he is met by Tom Roebuck and the ball ends up in touch.
Stunnning defence.
41-5
TRY - Sale Sharks - 41-5
That is try number six for Sale Sharks and a hat-trick fro Tom Roebuck who doesn't have to wait long to make amends for his mistake just seconds before.
Chiefs are caught short of number and Sale just pick them off to put Roebuck through a gap.
George Ford, having missed from right in front, lands the wide left effort with a gorgeous strike.
41-5
Try bombed
Sale lock Josh Beaumont puts in a big kick and Tom Roebuck burns Olly Woodburn for pace to beat him to the bouncing ball, hacking it on before trying to gather in the deadball area but the Sale winger, who has been away with England, knocks on with no one near him.
34-5
Stunning double act
Josh Hodge and Immanuel Feyi-Waboso combine to cut open Sale with some brilliant hard line running and offloafing to make 50m between them.
Exeter must get Feyi-Waboso on the ball more.
But the attack comes to an end with a knock on from Dan Frost.
34-5
TRY - Sale Sharks - 34-5
Sale are back on the attack through Ben Curry who blasts into Chiefs off the back of a close range line out.
Harvey Skinner concedes a penalty at a ruck and new Sharks scrum half Raffi Quirke takes a quick tap penalty and despite slipping manages to burrow towards the tryline and score with Exeter's defence all offside so forced to let him run.
George Ford somehow misses from right in front of the posts.
34-5
TRY - Exeter Chiefs - 29-5
Give Immanuel Feyi-Waboso the ball in space and he will score.
Attacking from a lineout the ball comes out to the backs and Harvey Skinner arcs a wide miss pass to Feyi-Waboso who beats Manu Tuilagi with his pace and then powers through Gus Warr to score.
Henry Slade's wide conversion from the right misses by some distance.
29-5
Scrum penalty
Rob Baxter has changed the entire frontrow with Dan Frost, Danny Southworth and Marcus Street on and they immediately win a penalty at the scrum.
29-0
Nothing working for Chiefs
Henry Slade looks to slip Will Rigg through a gap but Manu Tuilagi reads the move perfectly and is there to meet Rigg and force a knock on.
29-0
TRY - Sale Sharks - 29-0
That is a horror start for Exeter.
Gus Warr puts up a shallow box kick and Tom Roebuck chases hard.
Chiefs make a mess of it at as Dafydd Jenkins tries to block the winger and Stu Townsend fails to gather it with Roebuck rising high, spinning and then racing away to score.
Despite the ball falling off the kicking tee George Ford replaces it and dissects the posts from wide out on the right.
That was Sale's fourth and bonus point try by the way.
29-0
SECOND HALF KICKS OFF
George Ford gets the game back underway with Sale in a commanding position.
22-0
Rob Baxter reading the riot act
TNT Sport's cameras have just shown inside the changing rooms and Exeter director of rugby Rob Baxter is giving his side a stern talking to, waving his arms.
He is not a happy man.
Match action
HALF TIME - Sale Sharks 22 Exeter Chiefs 0
Sale have absolutely dominated that first half with Chiefs good for their 0 having barely fired a shot in attack.
So much improvement needed from the Devon side to get anything from this game.
Sale look fired up for what they were calling a must win game in their bid to make the play-offs having been beaten finalists last season.
22-0
TRY - Sale Sharks - 22-0
Sale's offloading rips Exeter Chiefs to pieces.
The ball is worked wide to Tom Roebuck who slips a pass back inside to Bevan Rodd. The prop takes it on before linking with Gus Warr who steps in to out to fool the visiting defence and sroe in the corner.
George Ford's conversion attempt from wide out on the right catches the wind and misses across the face of the posts.
22-0
Forward pass
Sale kick the penalty from the Josh Hodge knock on into the Exeter 22 with a line out to come.
The ball is retained at the throw and a meaty maul is set.
Chiefs manage to just stop the drive and Sale then throw the ball forward looking to move it wide with an overlap on.
Scrum to Exeter deep in their 22.
17-0
YELLOW CARD - Exeter Chiefs - 17-0
Josh Hodge is again inches away from making a huge impact.
He reads a flat pass from Rob du Preez and goes for an intercept, the Exeter full back goes for it two handed at full reach can't hold on.
If he had caught it that would have been a try but he didn't so referee Hamish Smales gives a yellow card.
Chiefs are down to 14 men.
17-0
