There's a rosy glow settled on Sandy Park.....
Brett Sturgess
By Moorsman
January 23 2012
Exeter Chiefs defeat of Perpignan sends their supporters home with a warm glow.
Exeter Chiefs 31 USA Perpignan 14
What a headline!
There's a rosy glow that has been settled on Sandy Park since May 26th 2010 and Saturday's defeat of Perpignan has added to the warm glow Exeter Chiefs supporters have been living with since then. I wonder what odds you would have got back then for the Chiefs winning promotion, taking 8th place in the Prem in their 1st season, being 6th mid-way through the second and defeating Perpignan to gain a quater final place in a European tournament!?
As SOLOMAN put it on The Tribe message board "MAGNIFICANT". He was talking about the Chiefs display in Saturday's match but it sums up the journey, so far, perfectly. Poor old (it's a state of mind) Soloman, he had to listen to the game via our friends on Radio Devon because of a broken ankle, what a game to miss! This was a performance that saw the Chiefs take a step forward in their quest to become a highly competitive and successful team in the Prem and Europe.
The omen's didn't look good as Perpignan raced to a 14 point lead within 10 minutes with 2 converted tries. However this was the last they would trouble the scorers as the Chiefs took control of the game. Ignacio Mieres converted 3 penalties and the try scored by Hayden Thomas to get the Chiefs in front at half time. The second half saw Exeter score a further 15 unanswered points with tries from Brett Sturgess and James Phillips. Brett's try followed a flowing move with great handling from Tom Johnson, back to his Saxons form and Kevin Barrett leaving Brett a 20 metre run in to the corner. James' try was more straight forward but came following a passage of play as the Chiefs gathered a rebound from the post off a Steeno penalty attempt. James finished it with a one handed 'splash' close to the posts that I'm sure must have registered on a seizmometer somewhere!
The whole side played with great composure, belief and desire and had clearly decided the early scores count for little as they had a further 70 minutes to sort things out. It's really difficult to single any player out as every player performed well but Aly Muldowny had a great game. His lineout work and carrying was very effective but the standout was a single handed take at full stretch at pace with the ball at head level, amazing!
Following the win we were hoping to get another home game but this wasn't to be so the Away Tribe or Raiding Party will travel to Paris. It'll be interesting to see what the Stade Francais supporters make of the tomahawk chop. Bring it on!
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ere to ere!!
London Irish have just published their annual figures:
• Turnover for the period increased by 9.2% to £8.24m (2010: £7.55m)
• Operating Losses for the year decreased 49.3% to £1.06m (2010: £2.09m)
Full Statement Here
They show a very similar turnover to ours (£8.26M) but we managed to make a profit of £630K
Quote:plus the lack of a second income stream from conferences etc.Mabolza
Could be the cost of renting the stadium every other week.
Does make you wonder though how sustainable it is making a loss like that every year.
There is only so much you can cut back on.
It does make you appreciate the sound buisness plan we seem to have in place at SP.
I can only assume that Irish have a rich backer. Sarries must lose millions every year - how they stay beneath the salary cap is a mystery - they still manage to sign Chis Ashton on £250k pa. Supposedly they are building a ground in North London but it only holds 12000.
Quote:Quizdave
Owning our own ground and having such a great business plan which means that SP is not sitting empty for the majority of the time makes us the envy of many teams in the AP.
I can only assume that Irish have a rich backer. Sarries must lose millions every year - how they stay beneath the salary cap is a mystery - they still manage to sign Chis Ashton on £250k pa. Supposedly they are building a ground in North London but it only holds 12000.
Yes, it's a mystery isn't it . . .
And whatever happened to the inquiry and it's results, and any subsquent penalties for any offenders?
Am I the only person to ever have read it?
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012:01:25:22:10:20 by Chief RedWine.