Quality of the Opposition 2

Quality of The Opposition

Take 2

After facing 39 internationals in September, October saw no loss of opportunity for Exeter to test themselves against “the best” as the three matches that month each had 11 or 12 internationals playing or coming off the bench for the opposition, to bring a total of 34 for the month. Northampton away and London Irish at home both yielded losing bonus points for Exe, with the point from the Saints courtesy of a fine effort by Luke Arscott, who managed to dot down in the corner despite the best attention of the defenders.

Saracens 11 internationals could not stop the Chiefs getting their first away win in the Premiership, some of the Sarries players didn’t appear to want it that much, which could not be said of the Chiefs who clearly did. I suspect that Strettle’s scarf impersonation, as he hung around Brett Sturgess neck will live long in the tribe’s memory!

November and December saw a decline in the number of internationals played against, the lean times being caused by the autumn internationals and the drop in the number of league matches played due to both cup matches and the weather. Of course another relevant factor was the clubs being played Sale fielding far fewer capped players than the” top clubs”.

To check out the full internationals that the Chiefs have played against click here - LINK

January to May 2011 will follow soon.