Nottingham v Chiefs match preview
Saul Nelson
By Its A Thigh Thing
April 1 2008
Its A Thigh Thing looks fowrad to this saturdays match away at Nottingham. There is little to chose between the two sides on paper with The Chiefs going into the match in second place just four points ahead of their opponents who are third in the table.
Exeter Chiefs v Nottingham The story so far 2007/08
Exeter Chiefs NottinghamND1 league position ND1 league position
second third Points 106 Points 102 Won 22 Won 20 Lost 5 Lost 7 Tries for 108 Tries for 106 Tries against 42 Tries against 59
Chiefs v Nottingham, 24.11.07 -Score 20- 15
This was the last league meeting which was described by many as ‘a game of two halves’ with a 20 – 0 half time scoreline. It was the game that brought us that awesome catch and try from Josh Drauniniu and 7 extra minutes of injury time which had us all biting our nails.
EDF Trophy semi final, Exeter Chiefs v Nottingham 15.03.08 - Score 16 – 8
Another tense game with Nottingham leading 8 – 6 at half time but an excellent try from Luffy, a conversion from Kingdom and a Yapp penalty in the second half resulting in a trip to Twickenham. This was the game that was full of aquaplaning and a complete change of kit at half time.
Nottingham v Exeter Chiefs, 6th April 2008
Meadow Lane
The Chiefs are travelling to Nottingham to play on Sunday knowing that to maintain their second place position in ND1 they really need to win (even though it’s still possible if the unthinkable should happen!). Many times over the last few weeks Pete Drewitt and the team have stressed how they are taking the campaign a game at a time surely the Trophy final at Twickenham must be becoming more prominent. Let’s hope they don’t take their eyes off the ball this week. The guys have recovered well from their defeat at Northampton two weeks ago with a convincing defeat of Esher on Saturday, the second time this year the Surrey team have failed to make their mark on the Sandy Park scoreboard, so you would assume that spirits are high in the Chiefs camp. Looking at the last two meetings it would seem we should be in for a closely fought match, with both sides having shown their ability and determination to fight to the last, but will Nottingham’s desire to pay the Chiefs back for their EDF Trophy exit or Exeter’s stamina, professionalism and high spirits win the day? I know who my money is on………….The guys who have played an outstanding season and are prepared to be runners up in the league this year, but destined to be winners next…………CHIEFS CHIEFS CHIEFS!
Referee: Greg Garner
Touch judges: Mark Wilson, Barry Dalby
Assessor: John Haggart, Geraint Davies
Whilst Saints get another dose of....
Coventry vs Northampton Saints
Referee: Dale Newitt
(Sm140)
P156...COME ON YOU CHIEFS..
..CHIEFS....CHIEFS....CHIEFSPRESS RELEASE
BATTLE FOR SECOND PLACE HOTS UP
The battle to finish second in the league at the end of this season will really hot up this weekend as Exeter Chiefs travel to Nottingham’s Meadow Lane.
Exeter are just four points ahead of Nottingham following last weekend’s result. This weekend’s game will be played on Sunday, kicking off at 2.30pm.
Director of rugby Pete Drewett said today: “We have talked to the players and management today about the fact that we have a great month ahead of us with four important games coming up. We are in the position we wanted to be in when we set our goals at the start of the season in June. We wanted to be competing for a promotion place but we still have the opportunity of coming second in the league and winning a cup.
“There has been a lot of energy and focus in training today and we feel very fortunate to have so many things to play for in the last month of the season.”
Changes to last weekend’s team see the return of Jason Luff, Junior Fatialofa, Wade Kelly, Richie Baxter, Dan Parkes, James Hanks and Andy Miller to the starting line-up. Tom Johnson will also feature on the bench following a three-week absence with a hand injury.
Nottingham v Exeter Chiefs
Sunday, April 6, 2008 – KO 2.30pm
Meadow Lane
15 Gary Kingdom
14 Jason Luff
13 Mark Fatialofa
12 Junior Fatialofa
11 Josh Drauniniu
10 Wade Kelly
9 Clive Stuart-Smith
1 Dan Parkes
2 Simon Jenkins
3 Brett Sturgess
4 Lewis Stevenson
5 James Hanks
6 Chad Slade
7 Andy Miller
8 Richie Baxter (capt)
16 Mat Grove
17 Craig Dunlea
18 Chris Bentley
19 Tom Johnson
20 Tony Yapp
21 Stephen Ward
22 Alan Miller
P156...COME ON YOU CHIEFS..
..CHIEFS....CHIEFS....CHIEFSQuote:Nottigham Site
Sunday 6th April 2008, Meadow Lane kick off 2:30pm
Nottingham make one change for the vist of Exeter Chiefs, with Alex Loney starting at hooker and Joe Duffey reverting to the replacement bench.
Chiefs are currently second in the Division One table, just four points above third placed Nottingham.
The Green and Whites have the added incentive of avenging their cup defeat at Exeter a couple of weeks ago.
TEAM:
1 - Matt Parr
2 - Alex Loney
3 - Nigel Hall
4 - Lee Morley
5 - Nic Rouse
6 - Craig Hammond (capt)
7 - Luke Sherriff
8 - Dan Montagu
9 - Tim Usasz
10 - Ben Thompson
11 - Andy Savage
12 - Tim Molenaar
13 - Matt Smith
14 - Alex Dodge
15 - David Jackson
Replacements:
16 - Ryan Hopkins
17 - Joe Duffey
18 - Neil Fowkes
19 - Tim Stannard
20 - Charlie Hayter
21 - Chris Pilgrim
22 - Rohaan Nirmalendran
CHIEFS CHIEFS CHIEFS