The England international No8 scored two tries, the other coming early on from Alesana Tuilagi, as Tigers moved to the top of the Aviva Premiership table for the first time this season.
“It was nice to get the two tries – especially as it wasn’t very far for me to go on either of them,” Crane said.
“I think they were both a result of our patience and a bit of composure. They are the key things, especially in that area of the pitch because we had made mistakes there earlier.
“I took the Ben Kay line for the first one, I’m just a bit quicker than him so I managed to get through! The second try was not as far out but I think it was the more important one. They were coming back at us and that gave us a bit of room. The timing was good, so I’m happy with that.”
Tigers took the four points at Sandy Park to register a home-and-away double over the Chiefs, though Crane said there were areas for improvement ahead of the sold-out local derby against Northampton Saints at Welford Road this Saturday.
“In the first half we didn’t have much possession and we managed to score two tries, then in the second half we had plenty of ball in their 22 and only scored one,” Crane said.
“We made a few mistakes in that area of the field, they defended well and at times they made us pay for our mistakes but our defence was still strong.
“We didn’t win a win away from home in the early part of the season so it’s great to get back-to-back away wins now with London Irish and Exeter.
“We’ve put ourselves in a good position but Northampton is going to be a massive test on Saturday. They have been having a good season and they have a good squad, it’ll be one of the most tasty derbies for a few years.”
Tigers against Saints is a 24,000 sell-out at Welford Road. Tickets are now available for the home game against Benetton Treviso in the Heineken Cup on Sunday, January 23 (1pm).
