Exeter Chiefs v Leicester Tigers

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Exeter Chiefs:

15 Olly Woodburn

14 Immanuel Feyi-Waboso

13 Henry Slade

12 Will Rigg

11 Campbell Ridl

10 Harvey Skinner

9 Stephen Varney


1 Scott Sio

2 Joseph Dweba

3 Bachuki Tchumbadze

4 Dafydd Jenkins (c)

5 Andrea Zambonin

6 Tom Hooper

7 Ethan Roots

8 Greg Fisilau


Replacements:

16 Jack Yeandle

17 Will Goodrick-Clarke

18 Jimmy Roots

19 Rusi Tuima

20 Kane James

21 Charlie Chapman

22 Will Haydon-Wood

23 Dan JohnI’m

Leicester Tigers (appearances)



15. Freddie Steward (119)

14. Adam Radwan (21)

13. Izaia Perese (18)

12. Solomone Kata (52)

11. Ollie Hassell-Collins (58)

10. Billy Searle (11)

9. Tom Whiteley (50)



1. Nicky Smith (33)

2. Jamie Blamire (9)

3. Joe Heyes (170)

4. Cameron Henderson (74)

5. Ollie Chessum (73) ©

6. Joaquin Moro (11)

7. Tommy Reffell (145)

8. Olly Cracknell (72)

Replacements:

16. Finn Theobold-Thomas (23)

17. Tarek Haffar (8)

18. Will Hurd (59)

19. James Thompson (9)

20. Sam Williams (7)

21. Jack van Poortvliet (100)

22. Orlando Bailey (9)

23. Gabriel Hamer-Webb (3)

Match Officials

Referee: Anthony Woodthorpe
ARs: Joe James & Simon Harding
TMO: Dean Richards

Weather Forecast as at 1200 Friday

Light cloud and a moderate breeze from the east north east
Temperature 7 degrees will feel like 4 degrees
Precipitation is not expected

Chiefs 27 Leicester 21

TV Coverage

Channel 408 TNT Sports 1 SD from 1430
Channel 430 TNT Sports 1 HD from 1439
Also available on Discovery +

Len obviously a massive miss but good to see Dweba back. It should be a massive battle up front let’s all hope the ref lets the game flow for the sell out crowd. Will be close I think
Chiefs 34 Tigers 31

This could go either way, we need to keep Kata quiet and not give Radwan any space. Forward battle could be immense. Chiefs 30- 25 Tigers.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2025:12:28:08:41:21 by Chief Bert.

Chiefs 32 Tigers 23

30:22 - Chiefs to win!

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

Chiefs 15 Tigers 36

Chiefs 27 Tigers 24

Chiefs 31; Tigers 26

Home advantage is huge, but this Tigers outfit has been coming together nicely under yet another new coach. However you also seem to have turned a corner, no idea who will win, but I fancy it will be a cracker.

Still a solid enough lineup, can't make this one as it sold out too fast but expect us to take care of business.

Chiefs 30 Leicester 20

I'm worried, feeling quite optimistic about this game even without Len. Chiefs 36 Tigers 27.
Any news on Brown-Bampo?

After a Christmas gift, I fancy a New Year present so:
Exeter 31 - 27 Leicester

A tough match to predict. Without Iketau I doubt our defence will be as solid especially in the centre. They have real speed on the wings, some good jackallers - eg Reffel and a very dependable tall full back in Steward. Expecting a huge up front forward battle which we have to win especially at the collisions. Worried if we leak penalties competing at the breakdown. Heart with a worried head, Chiefs 32 Leicester 25

Chiefs 34 Tigers 27.

Exe 27 - 22 Tigers but I have been wrong before.

Chiefs 38 Tigers 25

Despite Tigers finding form and Exeter missing Len, It’s a sold out Sandy Park, home advantage and confidence up, I’m going for a home win.

Chiefs 32 Tigers 22

Chiefs 26- 31 Tigers

With a sellout crowd behind them I’m going for a win but think it will be close
Chiefs 29 - 24 Tigers

Chiefs 33 Tigers. 17

Chiefs 28 - Tigers 24

Good looking Tigers lineup, but maybe their bench isn’t so strong. With home advantage I’m hoping we will win

Chiefs. 33 - 27 Tigers



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2025:12:28:11:42:40 by Ljs399.

Tigers bench:
FTT - 3rd Choice Hooker. Clare banned
Probs - both 2nd choice
19, 20 - Injury hit
21 - England International !
22 - Versatile and covers 10, 12, 15. Missing JOC
23 - Would have liked one of our centres.

Unavailable:
Clare (banned), Martin, Carnduff, Liebenberg, Ilione, JOC, Woodward, Wand.

Chiefs 30 Tigers 20

Be nice to see the support return, hope it’s not all travelling Tigers. The supporters imho have let the club down to a certain extent. But let’s hope for a win, against a good Tigers team.

Quote:

clalan
Be nice to see the support return, hope it’s not all travelling Tigers. The supporters imho have let the club down to a certain extent. But let’s hope for a win, against a good Tigers team.

Fair weather supporters are a bit of a fact of life. On the plus side, they probably spend more per person on food and drink than us regulars (no evidence of this, just gut feeling). What annoys me most is the ones who leave the bar at kick off and expect to walk into prime locations in ETC just because they have a ticket! Even the stewards are getting fed up with them.

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



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2025:12:28:09:09:00 by DumnoniiNomad.

I think the test of supporters return will be in the following games and not this game. Christmas game is always a sell out with lots of occasional support.

Len obviously a big miss. I'm hoping home advantage sees us through. Chiefs 26 Tigers 24

Chiefs 38 Tigers 30

Chiefs 32 - 29 Tigers

Dithered for ages deciding which way it might go but heart wins!

I’ve had a few minutes to play with the predictions… humour me! I thought I’d share anyway…
There are just 2 from 24 predicting a Tigers win; Score ranges are Chiefs 15 > 38; Tigers 17 > 36;
The average from all predictions is for a chiefs win 30:25

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

Let's hope for the accuracy of the wisdom of crowds.

Quote:

Not Manichean
Let's hope for the accuracy of the wisdom of crowds.

Tbh, not something we're famous for

Tigers the under dogs, all the pressure on you guys to deliver, can you hold it?

Quote:

clalan
Be nice to see the support return, hope it’s not all travelling Tigers. The supporters imho have let the club down to a certain extent. But let’s hope for a win, against a good Tigers team.

How have the supporters let the club down exactly? Seems a bit of an odd take to me.

Today will be a close one I think, Chiefs 29 Tigers 27.

Not sure about that Chiefs try being chalked off. The Tigers player was nowhere near the ball and actually running away from it, straight across the path of the Chiefs player that ended up pushing him. The long shot clearly showed him running from right to left in front of the other Chiefs player when the ball was to his right. Poor decision by the officials.

Pushing over a retreating player is stupid. No reason to push the player. Will learn, hope it doesn't cost us

Thought it the correct decision. Foul play off the ball before the try scored, penalty seems fair to me.
Shame as we were totally on top at that point, now Tigers very much back in it.

Quote:

Midlands_chief
Pushing over a retreating player is stupid. No reason to push the player. Will learn, hope it doesn't cost us

Normally I'd agree - but question why the Tigers player was running across the Chiefs player's path rather than towards the ball. Looked like possibly trying to buy a penalty, but agree it was stupid to give the ref the option.

Quote:

tigerburnie
Tigers the under dogs, all the pressure on you guys to deliver, can you hold it?

Yes!!