Woodburn double fires Exeter past Leicester to keep play-off race alive

Olly Woodburn scored two tries as Exeter Chiefs defeated Leicester Tigers 35-26 at Sandy Park, ending Bristol’s hopes of reaching the Gallagher Premiership play-offs and denying Leicester the chance to climb to second in the table.

The result leaves three sides — Leicester, Exeter and Saracens — still competing for the two remaining play-off berths behind leaders Northampton and Bath. Exeter were deserved winners, crossing four times to Leicester’s three, with Len Ikitau and Andrea Zambonin also touching down. Henry Slade contributed three penalties and three conversions.

Leicester marked the occasion of Hanro Liebenberg’s 150th appearance for the club, and the Tigers made a bright start when Freddie Burns — listed in the source as Bailey — kicked a fourth-minute penalty. The lead lasted seconds. From the restart, Immanuel Feyi-Waboso collected a clearance, beat three defenders and timed his pass perfectly to send Woodburn in under the posts. Slade converted and added a penalty to give Exeter the initiative.

Leicester responded through Pearson, who gathered a superbly judged cross-field kick to score, and a second penalty edged them back in front. A try from Adam Radwan appeared to extend that lead, but the TMO ruled the wing had been held up by Slade and Harvey Skinner. The teams went into half-time separated by a single point, with Exeter leading 14-13.

The second half belonged to the Chiefs. Three minutes after the restart, a neat offload from Dafydd Jenkins sent Tom Hooper into the opposition 22, and when the ball was recycled Ikitau out-flanked the cover to score. Leicester responded by making four forward changes simultaneously, but Exeter struck again almost immediately — Woodburn taking an inside pass from Ikitau for his second try.

Woodburn was then sin-binned for a deliberate knock-on, and Leicester capitalised when Cracknell powered over to cut the deficit to four points heading into the final quarter. Clare added another score from close range on Woodburn’s return to set up a tense finish.

Exeter ultimately secured the result — and the bonus point — when a handling error from Leicester allowed a long pass to find Zambonin, who evaded a weak challenge from Radwan to touch down. Slade’s late penalty confirmed the margin, leaving Leicester third in the Premiership standings and the race for the play-offs unresolved with the regular season drawing to a close.