Season 1
Sandy Park
By ShoutsLoudlyInRain
June 3 2013
Shouts looks at how well recruitment for 2010/11 went. Next up we'll look at recruitment for 2011/12.
Exeter Chiefs Premiership Journey So Far Part 1
I often find myself reflecting on how far we have come since that wet evening on May 26th 2010 when Tommy and the boys had us partying long into the night. I recall travelling driving back down from Bristol with Father, Brother and David (aka Slim) very wet from the celebrations on the pitch with a huge amount of pride and almost a sense of disbelief that we had finally done it. We Stopped at Taunton services as it started to sink in what the boys had achieved everywhere you looked you could see Chiefs supporters with huge grins on their faces. We were in the premiership and we were going to enjoy it. Our Premiership Journey Started with a trip to the rec for the JP Morgan Sevens this for me was the moment when it really sunk in we had arrived in the top flight and were going to be playing the big boys.
Myself and I suspect many others were eagerly awaiting the fixture list just seeing the list of top flight teams that Exeter would be playing brought a sense of awe and a slight feeling of fear were we ready for the big time, If you listen to almost all the pundits we were only in the premiership to make up the numbers and would be heading back to the championship with our tails between our legs after being soundly spanked by every team. That sense of fear quickly disappeared at the clubs Open day as you talked the boys you could feel the confidence from them. Rob had also made a few signings which Black_otter has highlighted in his article. The fixture list was published and we had a home match to start the season against Gloucester one of the stalwarts of the Premier League. The Match was being called a local west country derby although stretching the derby thing this fixture was set up to write a new page in Exeter chiefs history book Gloucester were renowned for not travelling well. The Day for me , slim and a few others started very early a 5:00am trek up to sandy park from Paignton to take part in a radio 5 live show with Rachel Burden , the long awaited match day was here as the sun rose over sandy park you could almost feel the atmosphere building over Exeter and Devon. With the radio Show finished it was a quick trip back to Paignton to pick Father up and then back to sandy park, as we stood in the ETN with large numbers of Gloucester fans waiting for the match to start you could feel the the electric atmosphere. Then Tommy led the boys onto the pitch and premiership rugby had arrived at Sandy park, I will admit that when the final whistle went I was little bit excited chearing and jumping around like someone possesed with a feeling that we could compete and stay in this league.
Exeter Chiefs 22 Gloucester 10 4 points
Next up the mighty tigers at Welford road, when I read the tigers team sheet it resembled a who’s who of rugby. I was unable to travel to Welford road so slim and I settled down to watch this on TV at Paignton rugby club with their first 15 who had just finished a match against Bridgewater everybody was glued to the TV as the boys ran in 3 majestic tries and led for a long periods the game, although tigers won, this game showed that we can compete with the best of them and made a few pundits sit up and think.
Leicester Tigers 37-27 0 points
At the start of the season there had been much discussion on the tribe about who we felt we had to beat 3 names popped up regularly Leeds, Newcastle and Sale all who had been propping up the wrong end of the table in previous seasons so our next match Against Newcastle was seen by many as a must win game if we were to avoid relegation. The game was duly won but was a tense tight affair with the boot of Steeno proving the difference.
Exeter Chiefs 22 Newcastle Falcons 17 4 points
A trip to the stoop the home of the Quins was next , The Quins taught us a bit of a lesson and handed out what would turn out to be our only real hiding. Truth be told the guys never looked like they would take anything out of this one from the first minutes of the game Quins were on top.
Harlequins 40 Exeter Chiefs 13 0 points
Our Second Away trip on a trot came at Franklins Gardens home of Northampton Saints Many of us had seen saints home and away before when we finished second to them in the National Division 1, also losing to them in a trip to Twickers for the EDF final. This Game showed our never say die attitude with Budgy going over on 70 minutes and Luke Arscott’s acrobatic effort in the dying seconds to get a valuable Away Bonus Point.
Northampton Saints 27 Exeter Chiefs 21 1 point
London Irish were next to visit Sandy park.which turned out to be a very close affair with Irish just nicking it. Steeno limped off with what turned out to be a long term injury and left us all a little worried. The Irish fly half had been worth 12 to 15 points a match and would surely be missed.
Exeter Chiefs 9 London Irish 12 1 point
The Trip to Vicarage road added another page in the Exeter chiefs history book our first away win the match contained a lot but the stand out moment was watching Brett Sturgess sprinting down the wing and going over the line with England winger David Strettle hanging off of him like a scarf flailing in the wind.
Saracens 9 Exeter Chiefs 23 4 points
By this Stage of the season it had become obvious that Leeds were struggling not having won a game and with them and sale both coming to sandy park over the next two weeks we could put some more air between us and the basement battle. Both games were tense affairs with so much riding on them if Chiefs ambitions of staying in the premier league were to be realised then must win matches. As supporters we had nothing to worry about as Tommy and the boys duly delivered and the pundits were no longer talking about us in terms of the relegation battle.
Exeter Chiefs 15 Leeds 9 4 points
Exeter Chiefs 24 Sale 19 4 points
Our next adventure was a trip up to Adams park home of London wasps this was a strange game bitterly cold. At half time a freezing fog descended on the pitch making it very difficult for spectators to see much ,the game ended with a wasps win and no bonus point
London Wasps 24 Exeter Chiefs 12 0 points
The New Years game saw the Tigers come to Sandy park watched by a sell-out crowd once again the chiefs ran the Tigers close with the game being all square at half time. Tigers ran out victors in the second half. Once again the boys could hold their heads high taking another valuable bonus point
Exeter Chiefs 15 Leicester Tigers 22 1 point
Gloucester got a little bit of pay back at Kingsholm with a first half rout , the boys got a couple of scores back to make it look respectable in a game Played in miserable conditions on a pitch which resembled the mud of the County ground at times
Gloucester 37 Exeter Chiefs 23 0 points
As the season had progressed Rob Baxter had been telling us that it was a learning curve for the boys and the next match would show us how much they had learned, Having been subjected to what amounted as a spanking at the stoop it would be true to say that not many were expecting a convincing win for the chiefs when Quins came visiting our home patch, However a convincing win it was with the Quins leaving Sandy park with nothing. Following this match with confidence riding high it was time for the longest away trip in the premier league Newcastle away a win here would almost guarantee premier survival if not mathematically. This game again saw the boot of Steeno convert 6 penalties but also contained Matt Jesses awesome charge down with his face which he duly fell on to score the winning try.
Exeter Chiefs 20 Harlequins 6 4 points
Newcastle Falcons 13 Exeter Chiefs 23 4 points
Having come off the back of 2 good results expectations were high as are nearest rival bath came to sandy park. But it was Bath who walked away with the spoils in what was not a great game.
Exeter Chiefs 9 Bath 12 1 point
When Northampton arrived at Sandy park for the first time since the ND1 battles they were on a run of poor games having dominated the start of the Premier season winning 10 from 10.They now found themselves on a run 5 losses after a tense first half saw saints go in with a 6 point lead 3 – 9 few could have expected the display from the chiefs in the second 40. For me this was our game of the season where we saw Steeno put us back on level terms quickly with his boot, before Tommy dotted down in the corner , followed by Nadola’s magnificent take in the air to put Sireli away for his score was followed by superb sprint from our own 22 for TJ’s Score after a massive hit on Riehana from nic sestret. The chiefs ran in 27 unanswered points against the saints and matt jess was not far away from adding the Bonus point score late on.
Exeter Chiefs 30 Northampton Saints 9 4 points
With Season starting to go into its conclusion we had a string of disappointing results with losses away to Irish , Leeds,Bath and at Home to Sarries. Added to these results was the bad news that we were up in front of the RFU for fielding to many foreign players against Leeds. Due to a mix up with a dual nationality player. During the period heading up to the hearing we were all on tender hooks could the RFU relegate us for this error, could a points deduction put us into the relegation dog fight. When the verdict came in it was a huge relief that we had a 2 point deduction and although made it all a bit tighter at the bottom we were still there and fighting.
London Irish 39 Exeter Chiefs 17 0 points
Leeds 27 Exeter Chiefs 22 1 point
Bath 26 Exeter Chiefs 18 0 points
Exeter Chiefs 12 Saracens 33 0 points
With 2 games remaining chiefs were now safe from relegation and with Ryan Davis leaving the club to go to wasps at the end of the season Ignacio Myres was given the start at 10 with the chance of a new contract if he played well, which he did. This Match was supposed to be a leaving party for the sale fly half Charlie Hodgson after many years with sale but it was Chiefs who came out winners doing the double over sale.
Sale 24 Exeter Chiefs 30 4 points
In what had been an outstanding first season for the chiefs it was fitting that they had a chance to not finish 11th but to finish in 8th place in the first season of top flight rugby all they had to do is beat wasps and they would achieve it and the party at sandy park would be long and memorable, Chiefs went about their business much to the delight of the sell-out crowd and finished the season with another win.
Exeter Chiefs 21 London Wasps 8 4 points
To summarise I don’t think that many of us would have expected to finish as high in the league as we did we also had good outings in the Amlin challenge cup and LV. The Pundits were no longer seeing us as Cannon fodder and were now talking about second season syndrome to describe our demise but as we have seen and will continue to see in Part 2 and 3 Chiefs don’t follow other peoples scripts.
First season was a real success now bring on season 2.
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brings back quite a few memories
Never realised you were an ex ETN'r
Think it would be nice to see at the bottom a summary of our results i.e.
P 22 W 10 L 12 BP 5 Pts 43
The highlight of the first season for me was was when SWIMBO won tickets for the Tigers game through ESPN and we travelled up at short notice and saw the team more than hold their own against the best team in the country. To be told we were top six contenders by Tigers fans was a great compliment - unfortunately they were one year out!
Firmly believe that if we can continue the form we showed at the end of last season we could be play off contenders next season - Thanks for the memories!