Conacht Review
BR Fan Club
By BR Fan Club
August 21 2011
Sorry this is late, I've been away for a few days but thanks BR Fan Club
Chiefs 47 Conacht 10
Connacht v Exeter Chiefs, pre-season friendly, 13th August 2011, Athlone
A few of our little travelling tribe were going to miss the later pre-season friendlies (stupid holidays!), so we decided that a weekend in Ireland would be a great start to the new season. The three youngsters in our party of seven had never been to the Emerald Isle, which was another excuse (not that we needed one).
Flights and hotel duly booked (and rebooked when the fixture moved from Galway to Athlone), we set off to see how the Chiefs looked after the rigourous pre-season training. We knew little about the opposition, Connacht, but gathered from their fans that it was largely an experimental squad made up of experienced and newer players. When we found out the Chiefs starting line up we were excited on a couple of counts. First of all it contained a significant number of last seasons 1st team regulars, plus a couple of our new signings (Peter Short and Josh Tatupu), and secondly, to the delight of the #BRFanclub representatives among us, Bryan Rennie was handed a start. Clearly, the Chiefs were taking this friendly seriously.
On to the match. The crowd was small but it was great to see a number of other Chiefs fans at the game, certainly enough to make ourselves heard. The excellent official match report has the main details, so I'll stick to our general impressions. The Chiefs dominated from the start - scrums and line-outs looked good and there was some great open play. Steeno looked particularly impressive (and we haven't been his greatest fans), creating some good chances and piling on the points mercilessly. New signing Josh Tatupu got the ball a few times and, although smothered quickly by the oppo, did show some signs of what he may be capable of with some nifty footwork. Peter Short just looked immense! Happily for the BRFC, Bryan Rennie scored the first try, though we have to admit it was a real team try with several players involved in the build up. Steeno also nicked a try and, after the break Dolman, Sestaret and Shoemark added to the tally (we restrained ourselves from humming the Marseillaise after Nick's try when we remembered the friendly international that was to be the post match entertainment. We did, however, slightly over-celebrate Rennie's try, whoops!).
After the inevitable substitutions started in the second half there were more good performances from Phillips, Naqelevuki and Mieres, and Kevin Barrett suggested that Hayden Thomas may have some strong competition for his spot. The final score of 10-47 was a good reflection of the relative performances, and whilst Connacht may have fielded a weak side the Chiefs certainly played well. The match was only marred by the unfortunate injury to Dave Nolan, who broke his leg. We wish him a full and speedy recovery. As a slightly inappropriate aside, this injury break gave a chance for some of our players to relieve themselves, which most did in bushes behind some buses. One of our new recruits was, however, either too desperate or was completing a particularly harsh initiation by giving the spectators a good view of what he was up to!
As you'd expect, the Irish hospitality was second to none. Connacht fans were very welcoming and, although some didn't know much about the Chiefs they were really interested in finding out. They were fascinated by our feathers, so we had a few photo calls. Away from the rugby, the whole Irish experience was great - particularly impressive was the service in the hotel, restaurant, service station and bars.
By the end of the match the whole squad had had at least a few minutes game time, and it was great to see Mark Foster and Chris Bentley back after their injuries. The team spirit looked good, too, and all the players had a drink and a chat in the bar with fans afterwards, some of them talking pretty confidently about the Tigers match. Bring it on, we're really looking forward to the new season!
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Exeter Chiefs - living the dream!
Thoughts are like arrows: once released , they strike their mark. Guard them well or one day you may be your own victim
![[:wor kid:]](/phorum-5.1.15/mods/smileys/images/13.gif "[:wor kid:]")
Hope to make the trip to Sandy Park at some juncture. All the best for the season ahead.
Good news is that Dave Nolan is I think out of hospital this week. Break was a complicated one so I don't think he'll feature in 2011. He is expected to make a full recovery in time though and has youth on his side.