Exeter Chefs head coach Ali Hepher was delighted as his side backed up their fine bonus-point victory at Castres with another impressive five-point haul at home to Vodacom Bulls in the Heineken Champions Cup.

Skipper and England hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie led the way with a hat-trick of tries as the South African Bulls were swept aside 44-14 at Sandy Park.

It made it 10 points out of 10 for Exeter from their first two Champions Cup games and leaves them second in Pool A, only behind Leinster on points difference.

Hepher told BBC Radio Devon: “I’m really pleased. The tough bit is backing up those big, emotional performances - and we had one of those last week against Castres.

“Today, the guys got themselves in the right place to start the game and the quality we produced early on was outstanding.

"We dominated things, particularly up front, and that allowed us to get hold of the game - with the scrum and the maul - and that laid a platform for us to play off.”

Hepher added: “We were pleased we kept sticking at it, especially in the first half. We could easily have let things slip, but we didn’t. We fought hard out there and we got our rewards for that.

"To have 10 points out of 10 so far, it’s definitely where we want to be. That said, we know we need more points, especially if we want to be amongst those top seeds in the latter stages.

“We’re aware every point is crucial, but this result does allow us to go over to South Africa next month on the front foot, be aggressive, and try and pick up a memorable win out there."

Bulls chief Jake White said: "Exeter are a very good team and will be up there at the end of the competition, I’ve got no doubt about it.

"The learnings we got out of it is that either you’ve got to be accurate at the breakdown or defend properly – you can’t give penalties away, but at the same time, you can’t give them quick ball all the time as they are good enough to hold onto it.

“Exeter will be there at the end of the competition, and there were some guys who didn’t play today. Hopefully, we will be able to do better against them at Loftus and get a win, and that will put our campaign back on track.”