Exeter v Saints Match thread - Teams Up

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Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2021:10:01:08:02:11 by Saint Ted.

One Simmonds back will be a big boost and they'll be smarting from the opening game so hopefully we can go down and put in a performance but I do like the look of the squad. It looks a pretty strong bench with Trokkie having shown the impact he can have and fingers crossed Lomani likewise.

That Exeter side is beatable. It'll be a great gauge of where we are. Currently predicting dry and low winds.

Massive congrats to Tom Litchfield on a first Premiership game. Surprised Augustus isn't starting. Looking forward to seeing what Lomani brings.

Mikey Haywood being behind Fish for the hooker bench slot is surprising. Fish's body language strikes me as lacking in confidence at lineout. Perhaps I'm mis-reading him.

I think we have the stronger bench so if we can stay in touch hopefully that helps in the closing quarter.

Indeed, it is a strong looking side and there is depth in the bench too. I too am a little surprised that Mikey has slipped down the order, I thought he did a good job coming on last week. Perhaps Fish is getting every opportunity to play himself into some form.
It will be interesting to see how the likes of Wilkins and Nansen fit into the mix. They’ve come to us with the sort of experience you’d expect to be able to slot into the side so I’d hope to see a bit of rotation in the back row in the coming weeks perhaps?

Shows how much we have improved our squad in last cpl of seasons, strong team, great bench and look whose missing?

I don't know whether Hutchinson has picked up a niggle in training but it's a shame to see him miss out. Perhaps Dingwall and Proctor have been chosen to increase the midfield defence.

I would have thought that going down to Exeter is the sort of game requiring experience so i presume there is an issue with Hutch meaning Litchfield comes in.

Excited to see Lomani come in so quickly. Makes me wonder why Wilkins and Nansen haven't yet made an appearance.

Quote:

Saint Stokey
I don't know whether Hutchinson has picked up a niggle in training but it's a shame to see him miss out. Perhaps Dingwall and Proctor have been chosen to increase the midfield defence.
I would have thought that going down to Exeter is the sort of game requiring experience so i presume there is an issue with Hutch meaning Litchfield comes in.

Excited to see Lomani come in so quickly. Makes me wonder why Wilkins and Nansen haven't yet made an appearance.

Rory is listed as not considered for selection so looks to be injured

Hutch played last week with a little bit of a niggle with his neck, when he came off he had an ice pack on his left shoulder/neck. So it would seem it’s been aggravated and that he needs a break to let it settle. Fortunate then that we have options at centre and back three, and Litchfield looks deserving of an opportunity

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Saint Maul

Massive congrats to Tom Litchfield on a first Premiership game. .

It's not - he had what I saw as an impressive cameo at the end of last season.

That doesn't look like an Exeter cup final team

Exeter's bench looks, not weak, but lacking a little on Exeter/ Premiership experience. There is udoubtedly talent, but with new imports in McCauley and Ioself-Scott, perhaps we can see some inconsistancy. Similarly, Jack Innard hasn't got extensive Premiership experience and Christ Tshiunza is young although a unit.

Fingers crossed, Ferg, Dows and Craig have a plan to target them... just got to stay in touch

Both sides with plenty of injuries and enforced or semi-enforced rest periods but I do think ours looks the stronger 23 (famous last words!), that doesn't guarantee a result especially at Sandy Park.

I'm a huge admirer or Trokkie so far but I think Teimana has played well so far too so a great choice to have, great impact off the bench and neither having to play 80 minutes week in week out in an attritional position. Sadly the nature of the game means those who haven't had a chance yet will soon and that strength in depth will be so valuable.

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Santiago

Quote:

Saint Maul

Massive congrats to Tom Litchfield on a first Premiership game. .

It's not - he had what I saw as an impressive cameo at the end of last season.

That doesn't look like an Exeter cup final team

Thanks. I somehow completely missed that.

The first I'd even heard of him was in the pre-season games, where he looked very promising whether playing in the centre or on the wing.

He took a nice try cutting in to fool the defender which I thought showed both great instincts and composure for a youngster. I don't remember him making one mistake in either game.

So I'm looking forward to seeing more of Tom.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2021:09:24:14:37:34 by Saint Maul.

Looks pretty decent. Good to see Freeman back on the bench and Ollie starting.

Haywood seems to have lost 1st choice to Sam and now fighting for regular 2nd spot.

Think they key will be the half backs, if Mitchell and Grayson can pull the strings and control the game we'll be in with a shout. Maunder and Simmonds both top drawer and experienced.

Exeter will be dangerous, they will have had a lot to work on after their performance at Welford Road and it's their first home game of the season. I think we're going to see a totally different Exeter from what we saw last week. Yes, they're missing some players, but so are we, and that's still a good team - we need to be so much tighter and more composed than we were last week.

Looks like it’s all about the breakdown. We have a fast agile side and back row, they have a heavy and bulky side.

Hopefully we hold up in the scrums and the game is played at pace.

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Saint Maul

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Santiago

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Saint Maul

Massive congrats to Tom Litchfield on a first Premiership game. .

It's not - he had what I saw as an impressive cameo at the end of last season.

That doesn't look like an Exeter cup final team

Thanks. I somehow completely missed that.

The first I'd even heard of him was in the pre-season games, where he looked very promising whether playing in the centre or on the wing.

He took a nice try cutting in to fool the defender which I thought showed both great instincts and composure for a youngster. I don't remember him making one mistake in either game.

So I'm looking forward to seeing more of Tom.

Barring injury he's my bet for breakthro player of 21/2 he seems to be a bit bigger than our existing centres and might be that missing power 12.

Really exciting looking team with a great mix of experience and youngsters. Very excited to see more of Trokkie off the bench, our back 3 (great to have Sleightholme and Freeman back), Lomani and particularly Dingwall and Proctor - if they can get the right running lines it could be a great combination and hopefully more solid defensively. We are a bit light in the backs weight wise though so forward parity and carrying will be really important and speed of ball and decision making from Grayson and Mitchell key.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2021:09:24:16:03:41 by Saintfanh.

Hopefully the offside line will be policed a little more than it was for Exeter v Tigers so we have some space to move the ball.

Weather forecast is good though so hopefully we can keep the pace of the game high and avoid getting drawn into an arm wrestle.

Whilst we have fairly equal numbers of absences it seems like Exeter will be missing more of their Cup Final team than us:

Cowan-Dickie, Hill, Gray, Ewers, Vermuelen, Simmonds, Townsend, Nowell, Hogg

Courtney, Biggar, Francis, Skosan

This is a fantastic opportunity to go for an away win against a top 4 competitor. Exeter fans don't seem at all confident on their forum.

Personally I am fearful of the Exeter back last. It’s always difficult to play Exeter and overall we have soundly beaten by them on a number of occasions over the past few seasons.

Its really interesting that we get to see the two teams we both played last week in action tonight. I am keen to see how good Tigers are (I’m hoping not that good) but also how good Gloucester are. I thought they were a poor outfit and we did just enough to secure the bonus point.

I’m excited to see Lomani come on and hopefully he can push and improve Mitchell who has somewhat stagnated recently. 2 games into the season and no new signings start maybe it’s a sign of the times or just our recruitment strategy. Signings bring the excitement in the closed season but I personally feel we miss a trick or our signings seem to take longer arrive and bed in than others.

I’m sure some of the current crop will come good but it would be great to have been able to have someone who had the impact of Tommy Allen last week for Quins straight off the bat.

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Awaywin
Personally I am fearful of the Exeter back last. It’s always difficult to play Exeter and overall we have soundly beaten by them on a number of occasions over the past few seasons.
Its really interesting that we get to see the two teams we both played last week in action tonight. I am keen to see how good Tigers are (I’m hoping not that good) but also how good Gloucester are. I thought they were a poor outfit and we did just enough to secure the bonus point.

I’m excited to see Lomani come on and hopefully he can push and improve Mitchell who has somewhat stagnated recently. 2 games into the season and no new signings start maybe it’s a sign of the times or just our recruitment strategy. Signings bring the excitement in the closed season but I personally feel we miss a trick or our signings seem to take longer arrive and bed in than others.

I’m sure some of the current crop will come good but it would be great to have been able to have someone who had the impact of Tommy Allen last week for Quins straight off the bat.

Difference being they had to start him. We’ve got last years starting 8 and 9 fit and healthy so it’s more of a decision to let the new guys get used to the systems a bit longer.

Also really looking forward to seeing Lomani, I don't see Mitchell as an 80min SH. We need a real zesty livewire to inject dynamism and pace when (as often happens) we become somewhat flat and one-dimensional. Mitchell fades away during some games, altho can show equal brilliance in parts.

Wilkins is still serving his French ban from last season.

Wilkins has finished ban confirmed in injury and update thread

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Saint Maul
Whilst we have fairly equal numbers of absences it seems like Exeter will be missing more of their Cup Final team than us:
Cowan-Dickie, Hill, Gray, Ewers, Vermuelen, Simmonds, Townsend, Nowell, Hogg

Courtney, Biggar, Francis, Skosan

This is a fantastic opportunity to go for an away win against a top 4 competitor. Exeter fans don't seem at all confident on their forum.

Totally agree we have a huge edge on the players missing. One of those little things that can help make or break a season who you play when.

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Awaywin
2 games into the season and no new signings start maybe it’s a sign of the times or just our recruitment strategy. Signings bring the excitement in the closed season but I personally feel we miss a trick or our signings seem to take longer arrive and bed in than others.
I’m sure some of the current crop will come good but it would be great to have been able to have someone who had the impact of Tommy Allen last week for Quins straight off the bat.

Funny how we can see things so differently.

Taylor chose to leave. Not much the coaches can do there. Lomani is a big upgrade so worth the wait. We still won the first game without him with a try bonus win.

I also really like how the coaches have encouraged/supported players to move on. In each instance it has improved our squad. Franks on big money yet arguably 3rd choice. Gone. Money used elsewhere with Nansen and Wilkins in. Harry in a slump. In comes Skosan. An upgrade. Adendorff leaves. Augustus in. Upgrade.

Would I prefer to go with this new squad with a couple of players arriving a few games in or stick with the old squad? New squad. No contest.

The season is 26 rounds into June instead of 22.

I'm really impressed by our recruitment/squad management for this season.

Allen's recruitment is poor for me if he plays for Italy. He'll be used little when Smith is available and away when Smith is away. In comparison, Skosun will be first choice and available the whole season.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2021:09:25:00:16:10 by Saint Maul.

HI all at saints, have a safe journey down, not much fuel at the pumps so beware, as for the game it will be a close call and i am not sure which way this will go.

[quote Saint Maul][quote Awaywin]I'm really impressed by our recruitment/squad management for this season.

Allen's recruitment is poor for me if he plays for Italy. He'll be used little when Smith is available and away when Smith is away. In comparison, Skosun will be first choice and available the whole season.[/quote]

I am also far happier with the recruitment this season. In recent years it has been somewhat of a disaster with the players signed being let go or leaving of their own accord as you have mentioned.

For me points are worth as much at the start of the season as they are at the end something we sometimes gloss over. My point is more that have the times changed where we aren’t recruiting to strengthen the first XV or we aren’t bothered about recruiting players that are hear and ready from the off? Hoping they coming good in the later half of the season and the second year.

Perhaps Allen was a bad example for the course of the season but he was good to go on day one and turned in a performance. Skosun is here for the whole season but if he doesn’t feature next week he will have already missed over 10 percent of the league games.

Well we're off to a great start....

So, we have 70mins to go, we're 14-0 down already, and we've got Lennie on comms.
Oh boy.

Well, another surprise. A chance! 😲👍



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2021:09:25:15:14:00 by Brewster345.

What's going on!!

Come back was really good. Discipline is letting us down but some dubious calls as well - in particular how long was maul stationary for before it was blown up?

Intensity is really good if we can cut the penalties and the few errors out we could have this game.

Half time and scores were level @ 14-14 until a pen for pulling the Exe maul down on our line with a yellow for Matavesi brought a try for Exe.

We've done well to neutralise their rolling maul from 5 metres out but are giving away too many penalties. Some great running from depth led to two good tries for us.

Now turning round 4 points adrift. Need better discipline this half.

COYS!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2021:09:25:16:14:28 by Stockers.

We're only 4 pts back courtesy of Grayson's pen.

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TimperleySaint
We're only 4 pts back courtesy of Grayson's pen.

I wondered when someone might spot that....

Grayson off when he appears to be kicking well in a tight game? Big call.

Intrigued at the idea of changing your fly half going into the crucial last 15min. Especially to someone who isn't a natural 10 just yet

What a goddam win that is

I'll take that!

We did it! Furbank perfectly OK at 10. Not the greatest game by Saints but effective!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2021:09:25:16:50:13 by Stockers.

Well, that's a pretty decent result!

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Brewster345
Intrigued at the idea of changing your fly half going into the crucial last 15min. Especially to someone who isn't a natural 10 just yet

As Furbank nails 2 penalties and steers us for victory!


Get in there.


We are officially a top 4 team and can win the Prem this year!


Glad to see the 1 meter pick and go dullfest no longer beats good sides.

Great result. We stayed in touch and our bench was stronger.

Key stat: Saints missed tackles 7, tackles made 111.
Exeter missed tackles 14, tackles made 48

Bristol and Exeter bottom of the table

Great win, now let's keep it up next week.

Despite Exeter missing a plethora of stars, this is still a seriously fantastic result. Sounds like we hung in there and took our chances.

Hope the fellas enjoy the journey back with a few Quiets!

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Saint Maul
Key stat: Saints missed tackles 7, tackles made 111.
Exeter missed tackles 14, tackles made 48

Bristol and Exeter bottom of the table

That tackle count is impressive.

I guess the penalty count would be less so?

Can I be first to say it: never in doubt!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2021:09:25:20:05:00 by white lion.

Now back in the car and reflecting on the game. As the tackle stats show, our defence all over the field was pretty impressive. It made a difference.

Our ability to nullify Chiefs' legendary rolling maul from 5 metres out caused them to change their game structure, which worked in our favour. That also made a difference.

Our broken field play from deep caused problems for the home side and made for exciting viewing. But.....too many penalties given away in the first half and being defensively sleepy in the first 10 minutes was poor. If we can cut out some of the little errors as well, we will improve.

Still, we kept ourselves in the game and eeked out a fine wine eventually away from home. Good result but I don't know if Boydy will award it more than 6/10 again.

Nice to be at a live match again, despite the incessant noise from the stadium announcer.

Great win
Traveling saints supporters serenading the Exeter faithful with numerous renditions of Oh Wendy as they make their way out of Sandy Park hunched shoulders and mumbling about better times

Taking Grayson off; I don’t think he has learnt game control just yet , sure he will, but both Grayson and Mitchell have a lot of learning to do

We have a knack of switching off mentally and putting ourselves under unnecessary pressure
Every time we scored we let them straight back in
with silly mistakes and stupid penalties

But Proctor was excellent at 13
As was Dingwall at 12

Lewis was everywhere

Great performance

Excellent win away from home against a good Exeter side. Look forward to the highlights, sounds like maul defence was quite pivotal in our victory.

If I had a £1 for every time a certain someone said “you know”.. I’d be a millionaire

Sounded like Woody was a key lineout target and we also nicked a load of their lineout ball


How did the lineout go?

Good result, well done.

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tigerburnie
Good result, well done.

Thanks Burnie you too, great to have the proper clubs up at the top of the table !

For some reason I listened to radio Devon. They were remarkably level in their views and credited Northampton every step of the way. They were exasperated by the maul as saints turned over 5 different mauls.

Was also interesting that they were pretty scathing of Ridleys performance as ref. Not necessarily his decisions but more about his communication and the fact he missed so much and his assistants got him out of trouble.

Really looking forward to watching the replay.

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Walks11
Excellent win away from home against a good Exeter side. Look forward to the highlights, sounds like maul defence was quite pivotal in our victory.
If I had a £1 for every time a certain someone said “you know”.. I’d be a millionaire

or "err".

Looking forward to the catching the highlights!

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TimperleySaint
For some reason I listened to radio Devon. They were remarkably level in their views and credited Northampton every step of the way. They were exasperated by the maul as saints turned over 5 different mauls.
Was also interesting that they were pretty scathing of Ridleys performance as ref. Not necessarily his decisions but more about his communication and the fact he missed so much and his assistants got him out of trouble.

Really looking forward to watching the replay.

I listened to them last season and thought they were very good and even handed. Made a refreshing change

Quote:

TimperleySaint
For some reason I listened to radio Devon. They were remarkably level in their views and credited Northampton every step of the way. They were exasperated by the maul as saints turned over 5 different mauls.
Was also interesting that they were pretty scathing of Ridleys performance as ref. Not necessarily his decisions but more about his communication and the fact he missed so much and his assistants got him out of trouble.

Really looking forward to watching the replay.

I listened to them for the first half. Weren't those two just awesome? Shades of the old Test Match Special. So easy to listen to and not really too partisan.

I listened on radio Northampton having rarely done so before. It was absolutely awful. Commentators just rambling on with no idea of how to paint a picture of what was actually happening and where. Most of the time, I had no idea as to which part of the pitch play was taking place.
Great win Saints. Well done for digging in to get the job done.

I cannot listen to Lennie Newman. Its just incoherent waffle with no insight and interrupted with Umm's and You Know's. Saints match day live updates is much better.

What a result. I usually go to this fixture and typically didn’t this time. Sounded tense - to score a penalty then mess up the kick off and finish with a TMO review… we don’t do things easy do we?

Those tackle stats could mean sloppy Exeter defence but it could mean we’re attacking well, running good lines and at speed. I think last season we were one of the best for metres gained in the tackle so hope this continues.

Not great to hear or penalties for back chat.

I don’t care who is missing from which side etc. The replacements are usually experienced, hardened players used to the Exeter way or young guns next on the conveyor. I’ll take this win thank you. Now back it up against Irish.

well done saints you deserved the win as our players gave up to easy, Hope to get up for the return match later in the season to see a good rematch, have a good season. chiefs fan in mourning.

Kind of an odd game, the first and second halves being so different. I think this was a better performance than last week and exactly the type of match Saints would have found a way to lose over the last two seasons.

The pack played pretty well and the lineouts were mostly good. Ludlum is a unit. Mitchell, Grayson were better and Furbank was terrific (two weeks in a row for Furbank). Nice to see Proctor at 13. Only real downside are the huge number of penalties. That can and should be managed.

Signs positive for next week.

Writing this from not so sunny St Ives having travelled down yesterday via "Windy Park"
My view on the day was as follows.
Negatives
South stand/tent view is dreadful!
Penalty count was awful
Too many handling errors
Referee intervening and picky
Positives
Great attacking play Furbs, Mitch and TC take a bow son!
Solid scrum and lineout
Defending their maul
The team spirit shown when we were under cosh
The Saints faithful and out singing their cultural misappropriation chant!
Sam Matevesi's massive smile and chat after the game
Although the biggest positive was the lovely reaction from the Chiefs fans after the game, many saying well done, also a sppecial mention to the stewards who to a man/women were fantastic.

Glorious win, after seeing so many defeats at Sandy Park. Whilst Chiefs had a number of absentees and will get better through the season, so will we. Finding a way to win that match while conceding quite a few penalties and putting ourselves under a lot of pressure was very encouraging. Defence was excellent and we showed some nice fluidity in attack at times.

Good to chat with lots of Saints and Chiefs fans. A decent number of travelling supporters were down - got through plenty of singing - hope it was audible. Strong start Saints - let's keep improving.

Just watched full game back (thanks for posting link Longers). Thought Ridley et al was generally poor, missed lots. Very harsh on Saints at times and penalty count wasn’t a true reflection IMO. Defence was magnificent, Dingwall & Proctor as well as maul defence excellent. A very good win away from home, the new laws have pu Exeter in a bit of a quandary I think, sure they will work in out.

Two bug bears of mine.. a ruck is surely over when a player not part of the ruck plays the ball, why are scrum halves allowed to roll it back with hands or feet and the ruck not be called over at the point they touch the ball

Secondly, maul formed, defence good and ball not coming out, either side then tries to take the maul to ground to either tie up ball or present ball back for attacking team. Collapsing a maul is an offence but never given

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Walks11
Just watched full game back (thanks for posting link Longers). Thought Ridley et al was generally poor, missed lots. Very harsh on Saints at times and penalty count wasn’t a true reflection IMO. Defence was magnificent, Dingwall & Proctor as well as maul defence excellent. A very good win away from home, the new laws have pu Exeter in a bit of a quandary I think, sure they will work in out.
Two bug bears of mine.. a ruck is surely over when a player not part of the ruck plays the ball, why are scrum halves allowed to roll it back with hands or feet and the ruck not be called over at the point they touch the ball

Secondly, maul formed, defence good and ball not coming out, either side then tries to take the maul to ground to either tie up ball or present ball back for attacking team. Collapsing a maul is an offence but never given

The law allows it, the ball is out when it’s picked up

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TommySaint

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Walks11
Just watched full game back (thanks for posting link Longers). Thought Ridley et al was generally poor, missed lots. Very harsh on Saints at times and penalty count wasn’t a true reflection IMO. Defence was magnificent, Dingwall & Proctor as well as maul defence excellent. A very good win away from home, the new laws have pu Exeter in a bit of a quandary I think, sure they will work in out.
Two bug bears of mine.. a ruck is surely over when a player not part of the ruck plays the ball, why are scrum halves allowed to roll it back with hands or feet and the ruck not be called over at the point they touch the ball

Secondly, maul formed, defence good and ball not coming out, either side then tries to take the maul to ground to either tie up ball or present ball back for attacking team. Collapsing a maul is an offence but never given

The law allows it, the ball is out when it’s picked up

Is it a law or an interpretation of the law? Either way it shouldn’t be allowed. Encourage the players entering the ruck to stay on their feet, ruck the ball back by their feet if required as long as bound into ruck and it’s open play at the point someone outside the ruck touches it or goes past back feet.

We wouldn’t have the 80 minute conversation between players and ref debating if the ball is out or not

A brilliant result at an away ground most teams will struggle to get one. A good performance to build on too.

Isn’t it fabulous to see the Wanderers back line plus Proctor playing such good rugby. Well done to all those development coaches who have done a superb job. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

So many things to enjoy in that performance- goal line defence, attacking verve, proctor cutting angles in midfield, Furbank winning it at the death. But I’ve got to give a shout out to Alex Waller nonchalantly delivering a perfect throw-in while Matavesi was off with the yellow card. Superb.