14-man Exeter hold on in 10-try thriller as Premiership leaders Wasps held to 35-35 draw

Exeter 35 Wasps 35: Chiefs saw lock Johnny Hill sent off with 35 minutes to play but held on to share the spoils against the league leaders

Joe Simpson scores a try to level the scores (Getty)

Exeter salvaged a 35-35 draw in a 10-try thriller against Aviva Premiership leaders Wasps despite playing the final 35 minutes with 14 men.

Lock Johnny Hill was the man sent off for the Chiefs in a match which featured a penalty try for each side and four further tries apiece.

Exeter's points came from tries by Sam Simmonds, Luke Cowan-Dickie, Olly Woodburn and Jack Maunder with Gareth Steenson converting those touchdowns plus the penalty try. Christian Wade, Kyle Eastmond, Joe Simpson and Alex Rieder scored Wasps' tries with Jimmy Gopperth adding five conversions.

Wasps made an impressive start and took the lead after only four minutes with an excellent try from Wade.

Exeter carelessly lost possession which allowed their opponents to counter-attack in style. Well-timed passes from Danny Cipriani and Kurtley Beale created the overlap for Wade, who easily outflanked the cover defence.

Danny Cipriani gestures during Wasps' 35-35 draw with Exeter (Getty ) (Getty)

Gopperth converted but Chiefs soon drew level when young Simmonds, preferred at number eight to Thomas Waldrom, forced his way over from a five-metre scrum.

The frenetic opening continued with Kearnan Myall and Josh Bassett being narrowly denied by frantic Chiefs defence before the hosts suffered a setback when lock Mitch Lees was yellow-carded for killing the ball.

Wasps took immediate advantage to win a penalty try award after the home side repeatedly offended at five-metre scrums with Gopperth's conversion giving his side a 14-7 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Wasps celebrate after Kyle Eastmond scores a try (Getty)

Lees returned from the sin-bin with no further damage done to the scoreboard before a fourth try arrived in the 25th minute.

Strong runs from Woodburn and Phil Dollman put the Wasps defence on the back foot to create a try for scrum-half Maunder.

However moments later, Maunder was the villain as he missed a crucial tackle on Bassett which gave Wasps the chance to burst into the home 22. A neat pass from Dan Robson gave Rieder an easy try.

Johnny Hill is given his marching orders after being sent-off (Getty)

The first half's scoring spree was not over as referee Greg Garner awarded another penalty try, this time to Exeter after Thomas Young, who was yellow-carded, sacked a driving line-out.

Steenson added a third conversion to make it 21-21 at the end of a pulsating half but Exeter would have been the happier as they turned to play with the wind in the second half.

It took only four minutes after the restart for Chiefs to take the lead for the first time when Steenson sent Cowan-Dickie in under the posts.

A minute later, Hill was sent off for a dangerous challenge on Ashley Johnson before Cipriani's pass sent Eastmond over.

Poor defence from Wasps allowed Woodburn to scramble his way over for the game's ninth try before the wing was replaced by Sam Skinner to bring the home pack back to a full eight.

The thrilling encounter finished 35-35 (Getty)

Wasps brought on Simpson and he made his speed count to tie up the scores with 10 minutes remaining but the hosts showed remarkable resilience and character to hang on for a draw.

PA