Stade Francais Paris v Exeter Chiefs

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Exeter Chiefs:

15 Olly Woodburn

14 Immanuel Feyi-Waboso

13 Henry Slade

12 Will Rigg

11 Paul Brown-Bampoe

10 Will Haydon-Wood

9 Charlie Chapman


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 Lewis Pearson

21 Kane James

22 Tom Cairns

23 Ben Coen



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2026:01:09:12:14:37 by Lowerwatha.

Will Haydon - Wood is going to be busy

Maybe he'll do the BOD trick of passing to himself

Stade Francais:

15. Joe Jonas,

14. Charles Laloi,

13. Joe Marchant,

12. Tani Vili,

11. Lester Etien,

10. Louis Foursans-Bourdette,

9. Thibaut Motassi,

1. Jack Iscaro,

2. Giacomo Nicotera,

3. Paul Alo-Emile,

4. Paul Gabrillagues (c),

5. Setareki Turagacoke,

6. Juan-Martin Scelzo,

7. Mathieu Hirigoyen,

8. Iakopo Mapu

Replacements:

16. Alvaro Garcia Albo,

17. Moses Alo-Emile,

18. Giorgi Melikidze,

19. Baptiste Pesenti,

20. Romain Briatte,

21. Julien Delbouis,

22. Paul Abadie,

23. Leo Barre



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2026:01:09:12:12:01 by Lowerwatha.

Match Officials

Referee: Craig Evans (Wales)

Assistant Referees: Carwyn Sion and Gareth Newman (Both Wales)

TMO: Keith David (Wales)

Weather Forecast as at 1200 Friday

Light cloud and a moderate breeze from the north west
Temperature 5 degrees will feel like 1 degree
Low Chance of Precipitation

Stade 16- 24 Chiefs



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2026:01:09:14:09:39 by Chief Bert.

TV Coverage

Available from EPCRTV at a cost €7.99

Stade 18 Chiefs 32

From looking at their recent team sheets SFP have done a fair bit of squad juggling.
Looks a bit like a 50;50 setup , with a lot of big names missing in important positions.
Big 'names' at 8,9,10 & 15 [Barre on bench} missing, probably 6 & 7 also.

As they are doing better in Top14 perhaps that has more interest for them?

Stade 24 - Chiefs 28

Stad F 27 Chiefs 35

Hmmm...with that squad Chiefs 25 Stade 35. Let's do this.

Stad 17 Chiefs 29

Stade 31-25 Chiefs

Stade 21 Chiefs 25

Red cards 2 minutes in notwithstanding....

Stad 18 Chiefs 30

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

Quote:

Lowerwatha
TV Coverage
Available from EPCRTV at a cost €7.99

The price of a pint at Sandy Park. Bargain!

Just a heads up. Anyone planning to watch on EPCRTV will need to be using a VPN.

Don't ask me why rugby makes it so incredibly difficult for fans to watch rugby, even if they are prepared to pay for it. But I guess that it just underscores how badly rugby is managed and marketed.

SF. 21 - 33 Chiefs

[quote Not Manichean]Just a heads up. Anyone planning to watch on EPCRTV will need to be using a VPN.

Don't ask me why rugby makes it so incredibly difficult for fans to watch rugby, even if they are prepared to pay for it. But I guess that it just underscores how badly rugby is managed and marketed.[/quote

You don't need a VPN , I watched Racing 92 game with no VPN.

Hopefully Stade 25 Chiefs 30. Not a lot of rotation - hopefully no injuries or cards. At daughters house as no power after storm. Hopefully back on Sunday.. Hope any fans in Cornwall Ok and people safe without too much damage to buildings and gardens.

We’ve put out a strong pack, albeit with a few rotations in the backs, so we ought to get something out of it. I’ll go with my usual prediction:
Stade 26; Chiefs 31

Happy to see PBB back. I'm struggling with this one. Is Stade really up for this(?) given their selection if not Stade 25 Chiefs 32. Here's hoping.

With all appendages crossed SF 21 - 36 Exe but I have been known to be wrong!!

First of all, lets hope there's no dodgy TMO decisions against us because the necessary camera angles aren't available until after the final whistle!

Secondly, know very little about this Stade side, but Marchant v Slade should be a good match-up. Glass is still almost full following last weekend, Stade 21 Chiefs 34.

Some rotation in the Stade squad, perhaps saving for the final round v Ulster. We’re looking as strong as we can be and good to see PBP back in action.
Stade 24- 28 Chiefs
COYC

Stade 19 - Chiefs 40

A much stronger team than I expected. I was imagining a similar side to the one which took on Racing. I would hope with Stade rotating we will be too strong, I know very little about their side so this is pure guesswork! Stade 25 Chiefs 29

Just thinking that we want this more so :
Stade Francais 19 - 31 Exeter

A brief summary from 'Midi Olympique' which may be of interest.

With two victories, each securing a try bonus point, Stade Français has a perfect record and sits atop Pool 3. A win on Saturday against Exeter Chiefs would guarantee the Parisians qualification even before the final round of the preliminary phase. To achieve this, manager Paul Gustard has opted to field some of his key players and give playing time to a few who have been lacking match fitness or are returning from injury. The capital's club, which has made the Challenge Cup a primary objective, fully intends to travel to Ulster for the final round with peace of mind. However, Exeter is currently third in the Championship [sic], just behind Northampton and Bath.

Chiefs 33 Stade 27

SF 29 - 32 Chiefs

Stade 28 Chiefs 31

A wild stab in the dark ................ SF 24 Chiefs 27

Stade 20 Chiefs 33

Rubbish watch but the score at HT is pleasing

It only took me 30 minutes to finally get a picture up....

Rugby coverage is an absolute joke.

Pleasing HT score though.

Killed by the bench total dross

Substituting both Daf and Zambonin at that particular moment did seem a bit of a strange decision!

Deleted.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2026:01:10:14:57:13 by ExeterFan.

Line out defence first 60 odd minutes was one of the positives. With the subs totally fell apart. Even after the yellow cards ended couldnt challenge a SF line out that creaked all game.
A few playing today have been part of transfer confirmation or rumours. None added to their reputation today

Quote:

Midlands_chief
A few playing today have been part of transfer confirmation or rumours. None added to their reputation today

From our perspective I guess that at least justifies our not competing with / offering new deals as appropriate.

Well that had me flashing back to last season. There is no way we should have blown a 22-0 lead with 30 minutes to go. Cardiff have since done us a favour and if Ulster can take care of business in South Africa tomorrow, we are still in the knockout stages with a game top spare. Top spot is blown though and with it the top three seeds so we've flat-tyred our chances of winning the competition.

Quote:

""It unwound in a weird kind of way. We got a scrum in opposition territory and we're calling a forward pick and go straight off the scrum, but we've got all our eight forwards in the scrum, and it's just one of those weird things when you go 'Why are we doing it' and then we get turned over at the first ruck."

Quote:

"There was some decision-making that I just couldn't fathom."

Rob blaming the players again. He says "We did this" "We did that" a lot, but what he really means to say is "They did this." and "They did that."



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2026:01:10:19:54:38 by lineoutball.

Comes across to me as fairly standard type of comments from a coach/manager.
In the end the decision on the pitch are made by players

Quote:

Midlands_chief
Comes across to me as fairly standard type of comments from a coach/manager.
In the end the decision on the pitch are made by players

Standard comments from Rob himself you mean. He always blames the players, inexplicably wondering why they "went off script" and "did things that the coaches didn't tell them to do".

Regardless of players needing to take ownership, it's not for the head coach/DOR to publicly blame them to the media.

Quote:

lineoutball

Quote:

Midlands_chief
Comes across to me as fairly standard type of comments from a coach/manager.
In the end the decision on the pitch are made by players

Standard comments from Rob himself you mean. He always blames the players, inexplicably wondering why they "went off script" and "did things that the coaches didn't tell them to do".

Regardless of players needing to take ownership, it's not for the head coach/DOR to publicly blame them to the media.

Did he steal your pocket money once or something?

Rob’s comments as reported in the Telegraph:


Rob Baxter, the Exeter director of rugby, said: “It unwound in a weird way. We got a scrum in opposition territory and we’re calling a forward pick and go straight off the scrum, but we’ve got all our eight forwards in the scrum, and it’s just one of those weird things when you go ‘why are we doing it?’ and then we get turned over at the first ruck.

“We get penalised at that, penalised at the next maul, a yellow card, and all of a sudden the whole momentum of the game has shifted.

“Then all of a sudden we’ve got 13 men on the field and they’re coming right back at us. We show the character to get back in the lead, but again we start doing something weird in our own half and get punished. There was some decision-making that I just couldn’t fathom.

More balanced and level headed than my assessment at the time! Feels fair which is how I'd describe Robs post match comments most of the time.

We didn't clear the back field well towards the end. Perhaps SF line out drives meant we didn't want to kick it out, but they didn't breakthrough much when it was 15v15 so at least make them attack from deep.

One thing that annoys me no end is the difference in refereeing at the breakdown across leagues. SF were on the wrong side, slow to roll, attacking the ball with players in the way. In the Prem I think we get 2 or 3 penalties the other way for that.
The French and URC refs just seem happy for the breakdown to be an absolute mess.

I was listening to radio Devon as I couldn't find it on my fire stick anywhere.
The coverage just stopped at 79 mins when we were on their 22 so I couldn't find the result till BBC put it up
Anyone know the final penalty count? It seemed to me to be over 20 and you can't win any game if the ref hates you that much, let alone with 13 against 15 (or 16!)
Have we blown our chances of progressing??
We sounded tired out...as far as you can tell from the radio commentary.

Quote:

ExTeddChief
Well that had me flashing back to last season. There is no way we should have blown a 22-0 lead with 30 minutes to go. Cardiff have since done us a favour and if Ulster can take care of business in South Africa tomorrow, we are still in the knockout stages with a game top spare. Top spot is blown though and with it the top three seeds so we've flat-tyred our chances of winning the competition.

As things stand l think we’re lining ourselves up for a Rnd16 v one of the Champs Cup drop outs, we don’t make things easy.

Quote:

Tiverton Brave
I was listening to radio Devon as I couldn't find it on my fire stick anywhere.
The coverage just stopped at 79 mins when we were on their 22 so I couldn't find the result till BBC put it up
Anyone know the final penalty count? It seemed to me to be over 20 and you can't win any game if the ref hates you that much, let alone with 13 against 15 (or 16!)
Have we blown our chances of progressing??
We sounded tired out...as far as you can tell from the radio commentary.

We conceded 18 penalties to their 8, but it was down to our own stupidity rather than the ref hating us! Luckily, in the first half they were conceded in places where there was minimal danger.

Here's a stat breakdown from the game

[www.rugbypass.com]

Thanks Exeter fan. Interesting reading...25 tackles missed, 79% success tackle rate!!
We're just weren't on it.
Hopefully, cheetahs will beat Ulster today...that'll give us a better chance next week...perhaps.. clutching at straws.