Exeter earn first Premiership win as Christian Wade scores a hat-trick in nine-try contest
Exeter beat Newcastle 34-28 in a Premiership Rugby match at Exeter on 11 October 2026 to register their first victory of the campaign, despite Christian Wade scoring a hat-trick. Bachuki Tchumbadze’s late try sealed a nine-try game that remained in doubt until the finish.
Wade became only the second player to reach 100 top-tier tries and, at 35, moved close to Chris Ashton’s Premiership career total of 101. Ross Vintcent scored two first-quarter tries for Exeter and the match produced five tries in the opening 15 minutes. The game also featured a promising debut from 18-year-old Jake Dalziel and the premature departure of England winger Immanuel Feyi-Waboso with a tweaked hamstring.
The opening quarter was frenetic: Vintcent’s first try arrived inside 40 seconds after a chargedown helped by a (legal) headed assist, and there were five tries in that period. Wade crossed early for an easy score and then created space to release Max Hicks for a second finish in the same right corner.
Dalziel’s debut was influential for Newcastle; his offload outside to Sammy Arnold set up the platform for Wade’s second try. Dalziel is 18, the youngest player to represent Newcastle in the Premiership and the son of the British & Irish Lions assistant coach John Dalziel, and the report described him as highly rated in Scotland. Exeter’s director of rugby addressed Feyi-Waboso’s exit: “I don’t think it’s a catastrophe but he said he doesn’t feel right,” said Rob Baxter, Exeter’s director of rugby. “It’s more of a concern than a long-term worry.”
Henry Slade produced a 40-metre score, converting his own try from wide out, but Newcastle still led at the interval. After a stern half-time lecture from Baxter Exeter lifted; former Bath full-back Sam Harris, on his Chiefs Premiership debut, finished a sharp blindside break from Stephen Varney. Two Slade errors then allowed Wade to pounce for his third and saw a potential Varney try ruled out by the television match official, before Slade kicked a long-range penalty into the wind with 16 minutes remaining to nudge Exeter in front and Tchumbadze powered over from close range.
The crowd numbered 7,071 on a grey afternoon after Exeter had cut ticket prices in most categories between now and Christmas, and the ground was more than half empty despite a maximum capacity of 15,000. For the first time in recent years there was no one on the North Terrace behind the posts; Exeter had drawn 8,682 for their opening-weekend derby against Gloucester.
Elsewhere Sale snatched a 28-24 win over Harlequins in Salford with a 73rd-minute penalty try after long periods of being outplayed by the visitors. Jason Gilmore claimed his Harlequins side restored pride despite a third successive loss of the Premiership campaign against Sale in Salford. “It’s disappointing. We probably created three chances in the first half which we didn’t take which came back to bite us,” said the Harlequins head coach. “Fair play to Sale. They got themselves back into the game with their set piece but I’m really proud of the boys’ efforts up here.
“Two bonus points on the road up here is, I wouldn’t say pleasing, but I’m just happy for the boys that they got some reward out of their work. If you’re prepared to go to dark places for us and win those collisions, then you’re going to get selected. If you’re dipping your toe in one week and then not the next, then we can’t tolerate that. “You can’t be up one week and then down the next week like we had last week. Performance will dictate the shirts.” Marcus Smith scored two tries on his return and Harlequins hooker Sam Riley also touched down twice, while Sale’s Ben Bamber added to first-half tries from Elia Canakaivata and Gus Warr.
Exeter now prepare for a Champions Cup assignment against Toulouse in this weekend’s opening round of the competition; the likely unavailability of Feyi-Waboso was noted and the Chiefs do have Tom Hooper back for this weekend’s opening round of the Champions Cup.