Greg Fisilau sets the tone as Exeter show strength with dismissal of Leicester
There is still a long way to go but Exeter would have settled for their current position back in the summer.Second place in the Prem table heading into 2026 with momentum building nicely is a very different story from last season’s grim struggle and, in front of a 15,000 capacity crowd, here was another example of exactly why they are a developing force.While this was not quite as compelling as their pre-Christmas raid on Saracens, the Chiefs could conceivably have registered another half-dozen tries in the absence of Len Ikitau, their injured Wallaby centre.Another barnstorming display from No 8 Greg Fisilau set the standard and the whole side showed enough physicality and defensive hunger to leave the Tigers to survive on seasonal scraps.Chiefs, bottom of the heap 12 months ago, might even have been on top entering the new year for the first time in five years had they not been denied a try bonus point at the death.
Campbell Ridl and Will Goodrick-Clarke both dropped balls over the line but even without them their side now sit only a point behind leaders Northampton, with next week’s visit to Bath looming as a significant game for both sides.Northampton’s fabulous weekend performance at the Rec will already have provided food for thought for those in contention.Bath still have a hefty international contingent and it could be that sides like Exeter will be fresher than others over the season’s closing months.Rob Baxter is no one’s fool and already looks to be ahead of schedule in terms of reconstructing another squad capable of winning major titles.The latest template is not entirely unfamiliar: the marauding Fisilau, scorer of his side’s opening try after just seven minutes, could be a spiritual descendent of Sam Simmonds or Thomas Waldrom, while the box-office, tackle-busting energy of Immanuel Feyi-Waboso has echoes of prime Jack Nowell.
Exeter Chiefs: Woodburn; Feyi-Waboso, Slade, Rigg (Haydon-Wood, 72), Ridl; Skinner, Varney; Sio (Goodrick-Clarke, 58), Dweba (Yeandle, 58), Tchumbadze (J Roots, 69), Jenkins (capt), Zambonin (Tuima, 69), Hooper (James, 60), E Roots, Fisilau.Replacements (not used): Chapman, JohnTries: Fisilau, Ridl, Varney.Cons: Slade 3.Pen: Slade.Sin-bin: Tuima, 75.
Leicester: Steward; Radwan, Perese (Hamer-Webb, 60), Kata (Bailey, 32), Hassell-Collins; Searle, Whiteley (Van Poortvliet, 32); Smith (Haffar, 63), Blamire (Theobold-Thomas, 72), Heyes (Hurd, 50), Henderson, O Chessum (capt), Moro, Reffell (S Williams, 39), Cracknell (Thompson, 50).Try: Henderson.Con: Searle.Pen: Searle.Sin-bin: Searle, 61.
Referee: A Woodthorpe (RFU).Att: 15,000.Perhaps most tellingly of all, though, the physical crunch is back.In place of the old family firm led by Dave Ewers et al there is now a new-look heavy mob fronted by Ethan Roots and that kind of hard-nosed mindset tends to be infectious.One seriously big tackle from Feyi-Waboso on his opposite winger, Ollie Hassell-Collins, certainly dislodged a lot of hyphens.
Baxter also remains good at spotting raw talent, planing away the rough edges and unleashing it without great fanfare.The latest off the production line is the 20-year-old Ridl, born in Tooting but reared in South Africa, who has come through the ranks at Exeter University and represented England at U20 level.Chiefs already have some eye-catching wingers but any of them would have been proud of the spectacular solo try that Ridl contributed to extend Exeter’s lead to 14-0 after 25 minutes.Turnover ball offered the rangy Ridl some broken-field space and a chip over the top and impressive acceleration turned a half-chance into a 50-metre cracker.A properly one-sided contest looked possible following another sharp chip-and-chase effort by Harvey Skinner, only for it to be ruled out for an off-the-ball push in the buildup.
For the first time Exeter sat back momentarily and Leicester took advantage, a midfield linebreak resulting in Cameron Henderson bursting clear to score.With Henry Slade also denied inches from the line by a last-gasp Jack van Poortvliet intervention, the half-time score of 14-7 did not remotely reflect the balance of play.Leicester under Geoff Parling, once an Exeter player, can also be a hard side to shake off and the first-half withdrawal of scrum-half Tom Whiteley, who had been ill overnight, and the hamstrung Solomone Kata also seemed to stiffen their resolve.Exeter’s bench, though, also gave them renewed impetus, along with a penalty from Slade.Another Ridl surge set up Skinner for a scything break that, again, was halted fractionally short of the whitewash, with Billy Searle subsequently earning a yellow card.
Leicester did their best to cling on in his absence but a 71st-minute breakaway by Stephen Varney, teed up by Fisilau, effectively put the game to bed,Parling, in his first season as the Tigers’ head coach, was not happy,“For the first time this season we lacked a bit of edge in the first 30 minutes,That wasn’t our DNA today,We’re not good enough yet to have those off days.
” His Exeter counterpart, Dave Walder, would also have preferred Chiefs to collect an extra point – “Deep down we’re a little bit disappointed with our accuracy” – but if they retain this level of physical appetite there will be plenty more good days to come,
The 2025 US economy – in charts: rising prices, hiring slowdown, rollercoaster growth
The US economy is thriving, according to Donald Trump: jobs are surging, prices are falling, wages are soaring. The government’s own official statistics paint a more complicated picture of 2025.“The Trump Economic Golden Age is FULL steam ahead,” the president claimed on social media, after growth data for the third quarter of the year – covering July, August and September – was unexpectedly strong.But other key indicators have been far less robust in 2025. If Trump is right, and an unprecedented economic boom is about to take hold, the foundations appear fragile
Labour must learn lessons from history as automation hits jobs market | Richard Partington
Walk through a supermarket and the technology is everywhere. Self-service checkouts, electronic shelf labels, handheld barcode scanners and the video screens showing you – caught by AI facial recognition cameras – leaving the shop.In an economy struggling for growth, the encroachment of these machines in our everyday lives could be an early sign of a new dawn – a tech-driven renaissance in activity after years of flatlining growth in productivity and stalled business investment. No bad thing.On the other hand, it could be the glimpse of a dystopian future that is already beginning to take shape
From shrimp Jesus to erotic tractors: how viral AI slop took over the internet
Flood of unreality is an endpoint of algorithm-driven internet and product of an economy dependent on a few top tech firms In the algorithm-driven economy of 2025, one man’s shrimp Jesus is another man’s side hustle.AI slop – the low-quality, surreal content flooding social media platforms, designed to farm views – is a phenomenon, some would say the phenomenon of the 2024 and 2025 internet. Merriam-Webster’s word of the year this year is “slop”, referring exclusively to the internet variety.It came about shortly after the advent of popular large language models, such as ChatGPT and Dall-E, which democratised content creation and enabled vast swathes of internet denizens to create images and videos that resembled – to varying degrees – the creations of professionals.In 2024, it began to achieve peak cultural moments
More than 20% of videos shown to new YouTube users are ‘AI slop’, study finds
More than 20% of the videos that YouTube’s algorithm shows to new users are “AI slop” – low-quality AI-generated content designed to farm views, research has found.The video-editing company Kapwing surveyed 15,000 of the world’s most popular YouTube channels – the top 100 in every country – and found that 278 of them contain only AI slop.Together, these AI slop channels have amassed more than 63bn views and 221 million subscribers, generating about $117m (£90m) in revenue each year, according to estimates.The researchers also made a new YouTube account and found that 104 of the first 500 videos recommended to its feed were AI slop. One-third of the 500 videos were “brainrot”, a category that includes AI slop and other low-quality content made to monetise attention
Greg Fisilau sets the tone as Exeter show strength with dismissal of Leicester
There is still a long way to go but Exeter would have settled for their current position back in the summer. Second place in the Prem table heading into 2026 with momentum building nicely is a very different story from last season’s grim struggle and, in front of a 15,000 capacity crowd, here was another example of exactly why they are a developing force.While this was not quite as compelling as their pre-Christmas raid on Saracens, the Chiefs could conceivably have registered another half-dozen tries in the absence of Len Ikitau, their injured Wallaby centre. Another barnstorming display from No 8 Greg Fisilau set the standard and the whole side showed enough physicality and defensive hunger to leave the Tigers to survive on seasonal scraps.Chiefs, bottom of the heap 12 months ago, might even have been on top entering the new year for the first time in five years had they not been denied a try bonus point at the death
Kyrgios defeats Sabalenka but Battle of the Sexes veers too close to circus
Nick Kyrgios won tennis’s latest Battle of the Sexes against Aryna Sabalenka in a dispiriting contest in Dubai that veered uneasily between exhibition, gimmick and outright circus.The Australian, who has won only one competitive singles match since the end of 2022 and has slipped to 671 in the world rankings, was sweating heavily and breathing hard as early as the fifth game of the match. Yet to no one’s great surprise, the extreme power of his serve, combined with the spin and velocity of his groundstrokes, proved too much for the women’s No 1 player.“It was a really tough match,” the 30-year-old Kyrgios insisted after his 6-3, 6-3 victory. “ I didn’t know what to expect
How Las Vegas police ended up with a fleet of free Tesla Cybertrucks
Apple seeks to appeal against £1.5bn ruling it overcharged UK customers
‘Undermines free speech’: Labour MP hits back at US government over visa ban on UK campaigners
Visa ban for European critics of online harm is first shot in US free speech war
European leaders condemn US visa bans as row over ‘censorship’ escalates
‘A gamechanger’: 200,000 UK small businesses sign up to TikTok Shop