Saracens v Exeter Chiefs

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We've already done better than last year in regard to losing bonus points, but I can't see us coming away from Sarries with anything this week. That's not to say we don't have the potential, but we've had a couple of tough back to back away games that I think come the end of the season we'll be glad we had ealry on.
Sarries 25 Chiefs 7

In Rob we trust.
By the way - cream on first. There's nothing to debate.

Genuinely can't remember the last time we won at the StoneX and I sadly don't see that changing, especially as Sarries look red hot right now. Sarries 31 v 18 Chiefs.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2024:10:04:13:43:34 by StanWilks.

Ever the optimist but can't see us winning though so, Sarries 28 - 21 Chiefs



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2024:10:04:14:04:05 by Chief Bert.

Saracens

1 Rhys Carre

2 Jamie George

3 Marco Riccioni

4 Nick Isiekwe

5 Hugh Tizard

6 Theo McFarland

7 Ben Earl

8 Tom Willis

9 Ivan van Zyl (c)

10 Fergus Burke

11 Rotimi Segun

12 Nick Tompkins

13 Alex Lozowski

14 Tobias Elliott

15 Elliot Daly

Replacements:

16 Theo Dan

17 Eroni Mawi

18 Ollie Hoskins

19 Andy Onyeama-Christie

20 Juan Martin Gonzalez

21 Toby Knight

22 Charlie Bracken

23 Alex Goode

Exeter Chiefs

15 Josh Hodge

14 Immanuel Feyi-Waboso

13 Olly Woodburn

12 Joe Hawkins

11 Ben Hammersley

10 Will Haydon-Wood

9 Sam Maunder

1 Will Goodrick-Clarke

2 Jack Yeandle (c)

3 Marcus Street

4 Jack Dunne

5 Christ Tshiunza

6 Ethan Roots

7 Richard Capstick

8 Greg Fisilau

Replacements:

16 Jack Innard

17 Kwenzo Blose

18 Josh Iosefa-Scott

19 Rusi Tuima

20 Martin Moloney

21 Tom Cairns

22 Harvey Skinner

23 Will Rigg

Match Officials

Referee: Karl Dickson
Assistant Referees: Joe James & Jonathan Healy
TMO: David Rose

Nos. 10 & 22 WOW……….didnt expect that!

Weather Forecast as at 1200 Friday

Drizzle and a gentle breeze from the south
Temperature 16 degrees will feel like 18mdegrees
Chance of Precipitation

TV Coverage

Channel 408 TNT Sports 1SD 1445-1715
Channel 430 TNT Sports 1HD 1445-1715

This is going to be a tough one.

Sarries 33 Chiefs 26

Series 30 Chiefs 20

Saracens 28-14 Chiefs. Where's Frosty?

I was there stan when we won Ian Whitton ran in the try those were the days, but with this team they will all and i mean all need to be on top of their game , its 38-15 to sarries for me as i see a couple of weaknesses, hope i am wrong though.

Hopefully the 'ref' has a good game for once, well any sort of game other than his usual!

Great to see WHW get a start, no Itoje but their back row will be the difference I think. A LBP would be a great result for us.

We are playing W HW without really giving him any practice time. I get confused by that.

Quote:

keithbar54
I was there stan when we won Ian Whitton ran in the try those were the days, but with this team they will all and i mean all need to be on top of their game , its 38-15 to sarries for me as i see a couple of weaknesses, hope i am wrong though.

Righto. I think I remember.

Delighted for WHW!

In case you missed it, guys, here's that tribute of Will Haydon-Wood that I made a few days ago.

Bit spooky that he starts at 10. Wonder if the coaches watch the channel. 👀



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2024:10:04:13:41:11 by StanWilks.

Sarries 21 Chiefs 18

Quote:

StanWilks
Genuinely can't remember the last time we won at the StoneX and I sadly don't see that changing, especially as Sarries look red hot right now. Sarries 31 v 18 Chiefs.

November '17 we won 18-20

In Rob we trust.
By the way - cream on first. There's nothing to debate.

Quote:

DumnoniiNomad

Quote:

StanWilks
Genuinely can't remember the last time we won at the StoneX and I sadly don't see that changing, especially as Sarries look red hot right now. Sarries 31 v 18 Chiefs.

November '17 we won 18-20

Thanks, Dumnonii. Great result that day!

Wearing my rose tinted glasses and legs,fingers and eyes crossed Sarries 27- 32 Exe and lets hope the fat lady doesnt sing!

Would love to see the away win but l think we’re still not quite clicking
Sarrries 35 - 22 Chiefs

Saracens 43 chiefs 17



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2024:10:05:15:40:07 by Chief Fire Water.

Saracens? Away? At the Stonex? With Dickson reffing?

What could possibly go wrong....

I’ve decided to consolidate my position near the bottom of the prediction table, so I’m going for Sarries 26, Chiefs 29

Sorry but glass three quarters empty for this one Sarries 43 - Chiefs 15.

Would be very happy with a LBP, its been two tight games but the bps have kept us in it.
As mention on Sarries board this time last season they were pointless, so things can change, but I think the feeling here is correct its a game we are very much a long shot.
But plenty to look forward to, another hopeful improvement by the squad, and not long before the injured will be back in the fold.

Certainly not the team i expected to be picked, and we must have some more injuries as not playing our best forward this season in Vincent makes no sense, but good luck to them in what will be a very tough game. The bookmakers have Sarries 1/14 on to win making us the biggest outsiders since we played Toulouse away. Let’s hope we can stop the individual errors and keep the penalty count down. Shame no Brown on the wing.
Sarries 38 Chiefs 12

I hope WHW gets to start other games than Sarries away so that we can get a proper look at him. Sarries back row looks strong. The difference though, will be that they know their game and look more structured/joined up at present. Home advantage too.

Sarries 33 Chiefs 26 and 2 bonus points!

After a few drinks I may become more realistic and change the prediction.

No one said that it was going to be easy.

Sarries 19 Chiefs 26

I'm going for a spanking Sarries 42 Chiefs 15

I'm taking the contrarian view and say that that this is the weekend we finally make it all come together, plus the random refereeing decisions will go against the favourites.
Sarries 28 - 33 Chiefs

I could of course be wrong (as could fisher!)

I consult my usual metric in these cases and see 16 capped players in the Saracens 23 (10 in the starting 15) against our 4.
They are playing joined up rugby and seem confident, whereas we haven’t got it together yet.
I am delighted to see Innard on the bench as I believe him to be the Clubs best hooker. But our backs look threadbare, and the injury list is killing us.
Huge games from all players and few mistakes will be needed to get anything from this match, and we look far too callow for the task.
Saracens by 18 points.

Sarries 36 Chiefs 18

WHW...wow...OK...that's Rob saying "we got nothing to lose right now". If he catches fire, Sarries might get caught with their pants down.

More likely, Sarries 35 Chiefs 25.

I do think that Dickson is the imponderable. He is so capricious that he could well cost either side victory.

Sarries should win comfortably but with Dickson in charge it is impossible to be sure.

Unfortunately Rosey is TMO and he always seems to go against us on 50/50 calls - probably because he's a Plymothian.

will we get out of the bottom 2 this season?

Sarries 38 Chiefs 17

I'm afraid I'm climbing aboard the negative bus, it's my natural home anyway! I'd never be confident of a win away to sarries, one, they are usually pretty good, two, that pitch is horrible!

With that pack though I feel we could be on the end of a walloping, I'm sure sarries would like to get one over on us after the game at Sandy Park last season. I'm afraid that our pack is way too lightweight, we really lack big ball carriers. Also, this might just be me, but normally the back five in the pack have some sort of role/specialism. Turnover expert, big ball carrier, strong tackler,line out jumper, strong scrummager, pace and power etc. All of our double winning team would fit into one of the categories. With the exception of roots, I'm not seeing that with that back five. Especially with Capstick and Christ, both of whom seem to have struggled with injuries and not really developed from promising starts.

As someone mentioned above I'm surprised not to see Vincent in the squad, he's been easily our best forward so far.

With all the above in mind I'm going for sarries 45 chiefs 19

Heart not head again Sarries 24 Chiefs 31

Head not heart for me this time:
Saracens 34 - 24 Exeter

Sarries 31 Chiefs 24

Can I change my prediction?😳

Can’t blame Dickson for this one……

What a dreadful first half for the chiefs, costly mistakes all over the place. Get Cairns on and speed things up a bit, we were a much better side when he came on last week, it could be a long second half!

What concerns me most is many seem to think it’ll be fine when Daf and Henry are back - that won’t be enough REALLY concerning….

Even the commentators have now belatedly realised one key issue is the fact we do not have a single international 9 or 10 ….. virtually every other prem team has at least 1 international 9 or 10 REALLY need to sort this

As far as today goes the forwards have put their bodies on the line but Roots won’t get another England cap and is a penalty magnet ( and dirty imho which I don’t respect)

Hawkins just doesn’t look interested enough most of the time - hoping he’s going to prove me wrong


Fair play to Hodge on the try though brave and quick


Let’s hope Sarries relax and we get a 4 try BP

This I'm afraid is really, really poor. I'm struggling to find a single positive. Sarries are winning this without really having to do much. Error after error, not one aspect of our game is working.

Falcons (A) is starting to look scary!

Do the officials understand offside…. No wonder the defence is so good

We are actually getting worse not better. Arguably unlucky to lose to Tigers, fought back for a LBP at Northampton and hopeless today, even the first try came from a Saracens error not from creative play.

Looking at the fixtures there is a very good chance that we won't win a game before the end of the year. What that would do for both confidence and attendance doesn't bear thinking about.

My biggest concern is that some of our bright young things are going to be targeted by other clubs and they won't be motivated enough to stay.

Big issues with the halfbacks!

Quote:

tigersimon
Big issues with the halfbacks!

Very True

Quote:

Not Manichean
My biggest concern is that some of our bright young things are going to be targeted by other clubs and they won't be motivated enough to stay.

If we don't get the gates we need to put ourselves on a sound financial footing moving forward, e.g. at least breaking even rather than losing money, then we'll have a problem even if they do wish to stay.

If we're not winning, we need to be at least competing and entertaining. A crowd will forgive results a lot more if they see 100% effort and are entertained by what they see.

Quote:

Brent1
Even the commentators have now belatedly realised one key issue is the fact we do not have a single international 9 or 10 ….. virtually every other prem team has at least 1 international 9 or 10 REALLY need to sort this

Ironically, Saracens don't have international halfbacks now. The replacement Saracens 9 is 18 years old.

Quote:

Toga

Quote:

Brent1
Even the commentators have now belatedly realised one key issue is the fact we do not have a single international 9 or 10 ….. virtually every other prem team has at least 1 international 9 or 10 REALLY need to sort this

Ironically, Saracens don't have international halfbacks now. The replacement Saracens 9 is 18 years old.

Maybe so, but Van Zyl has 6 SA caps I believe ….. and the youngsters will be capped I’ve no doubt

He's 21 in Dec Toga.. but yes the 9s and 10s are completely different this season from previous years.
Van Zyl has just 6 caps over 5 years ago.. our 10s Burke and Johnson both uncapped at senior level as is Charlie Bracken

Burke and Bracken will be capped and good luck to them

IMHO of course

Quote:

Brent1
….. and the youngsters will be capped I’ve no doubt

At which point, no doubt, people will again question how Saracens manage to have such a good squad... 😏

Quote:

Toga

Quote:

Brent1
….. and the youngsters will be capped I’ve no doubt

At which point, no doubt, people will again question how Saracens manage to have such a good squad... 😏

Perhaps because they are able to spend to the salary cap. We cannot afford to.

People need to get over themselves about Saracens, we've enough to concern us about our club before we worry about what happens elsewhere.

Those of us who spent, literally, thousands of pounds attending finals in which Saracens were cheating by overpaying players have a right to feel aggrieved, at least until an apology and acknowledgement of wrong doing is issued by the Saracens management.

This has not been done until now and won't be, IMO. I continue to boycott games at Saracens on this basis as I won't have them get hold of any more of my money.

Quote:

Exeforever
Those of us who spent, literally, thousands of pounds attending finals in which Saracens were cheating by overpaying players have a right to feel aggrieved, at least until an apology and acknowledgement of wrong doing is issued by the Saracens management.
This has not been done until now and won't be, IMO. I continue to boycott games at Saracens on this basis as I won't have them get hold of any more of my money.

I think they'll cope without your patronage tbh.

Quote:

Exeforever
Those of us who spent, literally, thousands of pounds attending finals in which Saracens were cheating by overpaying players have a right to feel aggrieved, at least until an apology and acknowledgement of wrong doing is issued by the Saracens management.
This has not been done until now and won't be, IMO. I continue to boycott games at Saracens on this basis as I won't have them get hold of any more of my money.

What about semi finals as well? Can us and Chiefs replay the 2019 final since we both lost in the playoffs to them? Makes sense to!

As for Bristol I wouldn’t worry too much about them, they’ll probably still be celebrating their World Cup victory on Saturday (they only care about beating Bath and that’s it, much like Worcester fans used to do be with us). Plus after the disgusting behaviour of their fans towards George Barton when he kicked the winning pen I sort of want Chiefs to win just for that!

Quote:

GlosJoe

Quote:

Exeforever
Those of us who spent, literally, thousands of pounds attending finals in which Saracens were cheating by overpaying players have a right to feel aggrieved, at least until an apology and acknowledgement of wrong doing is issued by the Saracens management.
This has not been done until now and won't be, IMO. I continue to boycott games at Saracens on this basis as I won't have them get hold of any more of my money.

What about semi finals as well? Can us and Chiefs replay the 2019 final since we both lost in the playoffs to them? Makes sense to!

As for Bristol I wouldn’t worry too much about them, they’ll probably still be celebrating their World Cup victory on Saturday (they only care about beating Bath and that’s it, much like Worcester fans used to do be with us). Plus after the disgusting behaviour of their fans towards George Barton when he kicked the winning pen I sort of want Chiefs to win just for that!

What did they do to George Barton?

Quote:

StanWilks

Quote:

GlosJoe

Quote:

Exeforever
Those of us who spent, literally, thousands of pounds attending finals in which Saracens were cheating by overpaying players have a right to feel aggrieved, at least until an apology and acknowledgement of wrong doing is issued by the Saracens management.
This has not been done until now and won't be, IMO. I continue to boycott games at Saracens on this basis as I won't have them get hold of any more of my money.

What about semi finals as well? Can us and Chiefs replay the 2019 final since we both lost in the playoffs to them? Makes sense to!

As for Bristol I wouldn’t worry too much about them, they’ll probably still be celebrating their World Cup victory on Saturday (they only care about beating Bath and that’s it, much like Worcester fans used to do be with us). Plus after the disgusting behaviour of their fans towards George Barton when he kicked the winning pen I sort of want Chiefs to win just for that!

What did they do to George Barton?

Booed him for daring to use all the shot clock time to take the pen whilst we had 14 because it was somehow against the rules of the game. This is despite their own team doing the same thing in the first half with their yellow cards.

Quote:

GlosJoe

Quote:

StanWilks

Quote:

GlosJoe

Quote:

Exeforever
Those of us who spent, literally, thousands of pounds attending finals in which Saracens were cheating by overpaying players have a right to feel aggrieved, at least until an apology and acknowledgement of wrong doing is issued by the Saracens management.
This has not been done until now and won't be, IMO. I continue to boycott games at Saracens on this basis as I won't have them get hold of any more of my money.

What about semi finals as well? Can us and Chiefs replay the 2019 final since we both lost in the playoffs to them? Makes sense to!


As for Bristol I wouldn’t worry too much about them, they’ll probably still be celebrating their World Cup victory on Saturday (they only care about beating Bath and that’s it, much like Worcester fans used to do be with us). Plus after the disgusting behaviour of their fans towards George Barton when he kicked the winning pen I sort of want Chiefs to win just for that!

What did they do to George Barton?

Booed him for daring to use all the shot clock time to take the pen whilst we had 14 because it was somehow against the rules of the game. This is despite their own team doing the same thing in the first half with their yellow cards.

Right! Thanks for explaining, mate. Absolutely nothing wrong with using the full minute. It's one of those rules you love when it's for you and hate when it's against you.

Quote:

ouch!_that_hurts

Thanks for keeping a track of the scores, mate. I appreciate it must be a bit of a pain!

It's even more of a pain when I cock it up Stan. Apologies to Chief Boldeagle for what, I think, may be the 2nd time this season that I've input his prediction incorrectly . Revised table ..........