Leeds Carnegie secured a second win of the season but they were made to work incredibly hard for it by title rivals Exeter Chiefs before securing a 14-13 victory.
Leeds raced out to a 14-0 lead in as many minutes thanks to tries from Scott Barrow and Vili Ma'asi but they then had to endure an hour of pressure from the Chiefs before making it two wins from two at the start of the season.
The home side had the first chance but Gareth Steenson hooked his attempted penalty wide after three minutes.
The Chiefs were left to rue that missed chance two minutes later. Richard Welding cut in off his wing to collect a ball from a line out and went straight through the home defence. He was tackled just short of the line but Scott Barrow was on hand to barrel his way over from close range for his first try for the club. Alberto di Bernardo added the conversion to make it 7-0.
The visitors extended their lead after 12 minutes. Again it was good incisive running that opened up the Exeter defence with Tom Biggs and Mathie putting the Chiefs on the back foot before Vili Ma'asi broke through in midfield and galloped 20 metres, taking two would be tacklers over the line with him. Di Bernardo again converted to make it 14-0.
Leeds were dominating all aspects of play at that stage, attacking with flair and pace and defending with power and discipline. Exeter though managed to break on the counter attack and with their first real attack at the Leeds line scored through Josh Drauniniu. Steenson added the conversion to make it 14-7.
Leeds had chances in the remainder of the half, most notably for Biggs who caught a great cross field kick from Di Bernardo but he was just caught by his ankles as he appeared to be going through.
Steenson missed two more penalty chances either side of half time and it looked like, having weathered the early storm, Leeds would score when Jonny Hepworth and Scott Barrow combined well in midfield to open up the Chiefs. The latter should have scored after 49 minutes but as he stretched out for the line he had the ball knocked from his grasp.
Steenson did eventually find his range and cut the visitors lead to just four points with a penalty from in front of the posts after 53 minutes.
Leeds were indebted to Leigh Hinton with ten minutes left when he made a brilliant cover tackle to deny a certain try for Nic Sestaret. Steenson set up a grandstand finish with his third penalty after 73 minutes with his second penalty of the afternoon however and Leeds were living dangerously.
However, the visitors seemed to finally wake from their slumber after that and took the game to Exeter. Di Bernardo attempted a drop goal after 79 minutes that drifted harmlessly wide leaving the travelling fans waiting nervously for the final whistle.
Replacements Rob Rawlinson and Andy Boyde combined to set up a 50 metre break down the touchline as it appeared Leeds would score to secure the points but Exeter just managed to get back to deny them. As it was, Leeds had to endure nine minutes of stoppage time before the final whistle was eventually greeted with great relief.

Exeter Chiefs: Kingdom, Sestaret, Rennie, Cornwell, Drauniniu, Steenson, Barrett, Budgen, Clark, Andress, Stevenson, Tuohy, Cracknell, Miller, Baxter (c)
Replacements: Alcott, Parkes for Budgen (71), Skelding, Johnson for Cracknell (61), Stuart-Smith for Barrett (72), Pugh, Ward
Leeds Carnegie: Hinton, Welding, Hepworth, Barrow, Biggs, Di Bernardo, Mathie, MacDonald (c), Ma'asi, Pala'amo, Murphy, Pendlebury, Paul, Fourie, Oakley
Replacements: McGee for Pala'amo (64), Rawlinson for Ma'asi (64), Denton for Murphy (72), Boyde for Paul (48), Bedford for Mathie (68), Brooks for Barrow (60), Armstrong, Rawlinson for Oakley (BB53 rev 59)
Referee: Llyr Apgeraint Roberts
Attendance: 5,693

Phoos courtesy of www.sportactionphotos.co.uk