Leicester Tigers player ratings v Exeter Chiefs: Joe Heyes & Dan Kelly stake England claims

Leicester Tigers claimed their first win in seven years at Sandy Park to secure a place in the end-of-season play-offs.

Exeter Chiefs were well off the pace in the opening 50 minutes as Tigers cashed in through Chris Ashton’s brace and Freddie Steward’s try.

The hosts made a game of it in the final half-an-hour and ultimately took a losing bonus point as Steve Borthwick’s side held on for a 17th league win of a remarkable season.

Marked his first Tigers appearance in ten weeks with an alert dash onto Youngs’ chip to crash over and score. That seemed to spark the England full-back into life, he helped fill in at 10 with Ford down injured, produced some trademark high-ball takes but was penalised for one aerial battle with Ian Whitten - perhaps a little harshly.

What a shrewd signing he is proving to be. A try in each half sees him pull alongside Tom Varndell’s haul off 92 as the Premiership’s all-time leading try scorer. The first was a case of keeping his cool and catching Ford’s sublime kick. The second was a throwback to Ashton at his best, scoring against the run of play. A couple of penalty concessions were avoidable, however.

The 13 shirt is probably the hottest property in Leicestershire, with Porter, Matt Scott and Moroni all performing brilliantly this season. However, Porter was preferred for a huge game and justified that call. He was brilliant in defence, charging up time and time again cutting off options for the home side’s star man Henry Slade. He may have finished the game with 11/15 tackles completed, but this statistic does not tell the full story, as he was often racing in for speculative collisions.

The centre's fantastic late turnover proved the final nail in the coffin for Exeter despite