EXETER Chiefs secured their first PREM Rugby victory of the season with a thrilling 34-28 win over Newcastle Red Bulls, but the sight of thousands of empty seats at Sandy Park raised fresh concerns over the club’s dwindling attendances.

Just 7,071 supporters watched the Chiefs claim a bonus-point victory, with the entire North Terrace closed for a Premiership fixture for the first time in the club’s history.

The attendance was down on the 8,682 who watched Exeter’s opening league defeat by Gloucester, leaving more than half of Sandy Park’s 15,000 capacity empty for the second successive home league match.

Director of rugby Rob Baxter admitted the club needed to explore ways to attract more supporters, acknowledging the financial pressures facing families.

“It’s not a cheap day out. People have less disposable income at the moment, and it’s a Sunday afternoon when plenty of families have children involved in sport, clubs and other activities,” he said.

“There are lots of reasons why people might not attend. There isn’t one defining issue, so you have to explore different avenues and eventually find the final formula.”

Baxter insisted the team’s responsibility was to perform on the pitch and give supporters something to enjoy.

“We want to get our crowd involved because we want them to enjoy the game. That’s as simple as that,” he said. “Our job is to perform well, win rugby matches and show that we care about what we’re doing. That’s what we can control.

“We were competitive last year and reached a Premiership final. We need to perform at that level again this season, make sure we’re competitive in our home games and play well at home.”

Asked whether Exeter could consider moving more fixtures to Friday nights, Baxter said the decision was complicated by Sandy Park’s role as a conference venue and the late confirmation of television selections.

“If you look purely at attendance, I imagine some Fridays would be very well attended,” he said. “But we also have to consider how easy it is to get a big crowd here.

“It’s not as simple as saying we should just play on Friday nights. The whole process needs a lot of thought.”

On the pitch, the Chiefs produced an entertaining performance, although Baxter admitted his side had made life unnecessarily difficult for themselves.

“My wife’s message to me after the game summed it up best: ‘Bloody stressful!’ That’s probably what it felt like,” he said.

Ross Vintcent marked his return from injury with two early tries, the first arriving after just 40 seconds, before Newcastle responded through Christian Wade and Max Hicks.

Henry Slade then crossed for the hosts, but Wade’s second try helped the visitors take a 21-19 half-time lead.

Sam Harris scored Exeter’s bonus-point try shortly after the restart, only for Wade to complete his hat-trick by capitalising on a Slade error. The former England winger now has 100 Premiership tries, one short of Chris Ashton’s competition record.

Baxter admitted post-game he was particularly frustrated by his side’s defensive performance.

“At half-time, my biggest frustration was our defensive energy. I thought we were attacking pretty well and understood how we wanted to create opportunities,” he said. “But when we had to defend, we were lacking energy, drive, speed off the floor and quality in our tackles.

“Fair play to Newcastle, because I thought they exploited that well. They kept the ball alive, produced some good offloads, found space and scored some good tries. The score kept swinging back and forth, which meant we could never really settle. We could score, but we couldn’t create that breathing space that would allow us to take control of the game, particularly at home.”

Slade’s 64th-minute penalty edged the Chiefs back in front before a late try from Bachuki Tchumbadze sealed the 34-28 victory.

Baxter admitted the performance was not perfect but stressed the importance of securing the result.

“If we’re going to have a successful season, we’ll probably look back on this game in 10 matches’ time and remember that we won it,” he said.

“Ultimately, we’ve come through the game, dealt with some pressure and got our five points at home.”

The Chiefs remain eighth in the Premiership table, four points behind leaders Gloucester, and now face a daunting European Champions Cup trip to Toulouse on Sunday.