EXETER Chiefs booked their place in the Premiership Rugby Cup final with an emphatic 46-3 victory over Sale Sharks at Sandy Park this afternoon.

The young Chiefs swept aside their rivals by running in six tries and showed what a bright future the club has in seasons to come.

In the final they will be away to London Irish at the Brentford Community Stadium on Sunday, March 19, with a 2pm kick-off.

Irish won their semi-final 30-18 at home to Northampton Saints on Friday night. 

Exeter got off to the worst possible start, losing full-back Tom Wyatt to the sin-bin for a deliberate knock-on on his own 22-metre line when he stopped a two-on-one overlap, and Sale fly-half Tom Curtis slotted the simple resultant penalty, but that was as good as it got for the Sharks.

Chiefs replied with a penalty of their own nine minutes later from Iwan Jenkins for Sale not rolling away from the tackle.

Some dazzling runs from Exeter winger Immanuel Feyi-Waboso – who arrived from Wasps when the Midlands club went into administration – were lighting up the contest, and he created a buzz amongst the crowd every time he got the ball.

Exeter took the lead for the first time in the 23rd minute when they were awarded a penalty five metres out in front of the posts, and instead of taking the simple three points, skipper Jack Innard opted for a tap and go, and two quick passes later, Argentinean international No.8 Santiago Grondona crossed unopposed for a try improved by Jenkins for a 10-3 advantage.

They stretched their lead five minutes later after a fine run and pass off the ground by Wyatt sent Irish centre Sean O’Brien in by the posts for Jenkins to add the simple conversion.

And they destroyed Sale with an emphatic catch-and-drive very soon after, finished off by blindside flanker Rus Tuima to make it three tries in eight minutes, and with Jenkins’ conversion, the Chiefs were suddenly almost out of sight at 24-3, and that was the scoreline at the interval.

The expected second-half fightback from Sale did not materialise and their cause was not helped when scrum-half Will Cliff was yellow carded for a deliberate knock-on by referee Hamish Smales, the former Launceston winger.

Only two minutes later, the impressive Wyatt piled on more agony for the Mancunians by adding a fourth try.

Jenkins saw his conversion come back off an upright, but he kicked a penalty soon after to make it 32-3 to the hosts.

Feyi-Waboso added a fifth try with a stunning individual score, cutting through the Sale defence like a hot knife through butter, and replacement hooker Dan Frost rounded things off with a close-range touchdown, with Jenkins converting both to make it a superb seven out of eight with his boot for a personal 16-point haul.

Exeter: T Wyatt, I Feyi-Waboso, S O’Brien (F Cordero 57), T Hendrickson (I Whitten 63), R O’Loughlin, I Jenkins, T Cairns (O James 69), D Southworth (J Kenny 60), J Innard (capt) (D Frost 50), P Schickerling (J Iosefa-Scott 60), M Williams, L Pearson (O Leatherbarrow 64), R Tuima, A Davis (J Bailey 50), S Grondona. 

Sale: J Woodward (K Wilkinson 61), B McGuigan, L James, S Hill, E Gourlay (J Bedlow 57), T Curtis, W Cliff (W Wootton 71), T Onasanya (B Carlile 55), T Taylor (H Thompson 26), C Oosthuizen (C Ford 55), R Birch, A Groves (E Murphy 63), W Riley, T Woodman (Y Nkonge 63), S Dugdale (capt). 

Exeter: Tries – Grondona, O’Brien, Tuima, Wyatt, Feyi-Waboso, Frost; Cons – Jenkins (5); Pen – Jenkins (2).

Sale: Pen – Wyatt.

Yellow cards: Exeter – Wyatt (4); Sale – Cliff (47).

Referee: Hamish Smales.

Attendance: 5,338.