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There's no place like home. Exeter Chiefs remarkable league home record.....

There's no place like home. Exeter Chiefs remarkable league home record

This Sunday sees Exeter Chiefs play their 100th home premiership game (I'm including the playoff semi finals for sake of argument) at Sandy Park.  So lets have a look at how the "Fortress Sandy Park" stacks up.

It all began back on September 4th 2010 as newly promoted Exeter beat Gloucester 22-10 in their first game in the Premiership (massive thanks to the previous sponsors of the league for letting me watch that for free), then a fortnight later Newcastle Falcons were seen off 22-17 and Chiefs were well on their way to establishing themselves in the top tier of English rugby.

In all the first 99 games at Sandy Park have resulted in 72 home wins, 3 draws (bonus points for naming the opposition for each of them) and 24 away wins.

Over Time


In only one season have Chiefs finished with a losing record at home in the league with 7 defeats and just 4 wins in 2013/14, it should be noted that season did see Chiefs lift the Anglo-Welsh cup on home turf.
From that point on however Chiefs have won 47 home games out of 55 (an 85% win rate) and only lost on six occasions, further developing that since Bath won at Sandy Park in Oct 2016 Chiefs have only lost once at home in 28 league (and playoff) games and that an uncharacteristic 5-6 defeat to Worcester Warriors last February.
The slight dip in 2016/17 could be partly explained by two drawn home games (a little clue if you're still trying to work out the draws).



Who have the best and worst records at Sandy Park

Unsurprisingly not many premiership sides have a good record when visiting Sandy Park with 13 of the home defeats have come against just 3 teams, Saracens (5 wins) and Bath and Leicester (4 wins) although it has to be noted that Bath have won once in their past 5 visits, and Leicester haven't won at Sandy Park since September 2014. On the other side of the equation three current premiership sides, including Sunday's visitors to Sandy Park, are yet to win a Premiership game at Sandy Park.

Away TeamMatchesWonDrawLostWin %
Saracens105550.00%
Bath Rugby941444.44%
Leicester Tigers94544.44%
Northampton Saints83537.50%
Gloucester Rugby931533.33%
Harlequins82625.00%
London Irish71614.29%
Worcester Warriors71614.29%
Sale Sharks91811.11%
Bristol Rugby220.00%
Leeds Carnegie110.00%
London Welsh220.00%
Newcastle Falcons990.00%
Wasps9180.00%

The ruthless points scoring machine

Probably the most notable factor over time is Chiefs evolution into a relentless points scoring machine which is borne out in the chart below. In those early seasons Exeter were often reliant on kicks at goal but recent seasons have seen them pick up try bonus points aplenty. 
In their first two seasons in the premiership Chiefs scored 30 or more points just 3 times in 22 home league games.  Since reaching the playoff for the first time in 2015/16  the last two and three quarter seasons have seen Chiefs pass 30 points at home on 20 out of 32 occasions. 
For comparison in only 9 matches of the 99 premiership games Sandy Park has hosted have Exeter conceded 30 or more points, that's less than the number of home games the Chiefs reached 30 in during 2017/18.


10 Stats

To finish here are 10 stats to liven* any dinner party:

  1. Chiefs have scored 2636 points at Sandy Park from their 99 matches so far (26.6 points per game)
  2. In the same period they've conceded 1606 points (16.2 points per game)
  3. Chiefs record score at home is 74-19 against London Welsh on 07/03/2015
  4. Their lowest score at home is the 5 points in their most recent home league defeat to Worcester in Feb 2018
  5. The most common points score for Chiefs at home is 9 points on 7 occasions, though the last time Chiefs scored 9 at home was 23/11/2013 (against Saracens)
  6. The next most common points score is 31 points on 6 occasions
  7. Chiefs have never scored 17 points in a home league game
  8. London Irish are the only side not to score in a league game at Sandy Park, losing 14-0 on 1st March 2014
  9. The away team have failed to get to double figures on 21 occasions in 99 matches
  10. The most common points conceded by Chiefs in league home games is 12 points on 12 occasions


*Warning: May cause drowsiness, boredom and ultimately sitting on your own looking at rugby stats.

And the three draws? 12-12 vs Bath in December 2012, 27-27 vs Gloucester in Oct 2016 and 35-35 against Wasps in Feb 2017.



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