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Exeter Away- Toughest test to date


By Quins4life
November 24 2015

It’s funny what a difference half a year makes. Around 6 months ago the 2014/15 season had come to a close and we had been battered away at Newcastle 37 points to 21. It’s fair to say the mood around the club was glum at best due to us having an incredibly poor season for our recent high standards. It was hard to see improvements despite the knowledge of some good signings and some fans were even calling for O’Shea to go. However fast-forward to the now and suddenly the feel good factor is seemingly back at the Stoop, with the team starting the season fantastically well winning 5 out of 6 games. It could have easily been 100% but for some questionable calls and decisions in our loss away against Leicester. 

Back to more recent events and last week we had a chance to all but confirm our knockout place in the Challenge Cup, with two games back-to-back against Italian minnows and part-timers, Calvisano, up next, (which should mean another 10 points as history shows most teams get that against them). And boy did we take the chance. Once again it was a ferocious defensive display that was the basis of the victory against a Cardiff side that started the game promisingly but couldn’t score due to our great defence. After losing the first half, we dominated the second, scoring 4 tries in the process meaning another try bonus point. It was pleasing to see how clinical we were in the second half when to opportunities arose. On a sour note, there were concerning knocks to more of our back row players with Baby Chisholm and Clifford both were forced off injured. It did mean that Ward came on at flanker and excelled playing there, despite being out of position. It could well be an experiment worth trying again if the opportunity arises. We did take a risk rotating the team but, in the end, it paid off with an excellent win. 

Moving on now though, next up we are back to the bread and butter in the form of Premiership Rugby, and we face a daunting trip down to a high flying Exeter team that has started the domestic season very well and is earning a lot of deserved plaudits from pundits. So far this season, Exeter have the same record as us by winning 3 out 4 of the Premiership game so far, with their only loss coming away against Bath, in a game they should have won. They then won comfortably against Irish and Newcastle, before a significant victory against Leicester. This was a huge result for them as they saw it as a game to show they really mean business this year after they had lost the previous 6 encounters against Leicester. They wanted to show they deserved to be up there challenging for the title, and they did by grinding out a good win. Exeter, unlike us, have been playing in the Champions Cup over the last couple of weekend. and won one and lost one. They perhaps displayed their lack of “big game” knowledge in their Ospreys, when they really let the game get away from them, but last week they bounced back and won reasonably comfortably against Bordeaux Begle. 

Over the summer, Rob Baxter looked to add bit of experience to a young squad. He bought in two players from Leicester, both of which I would have loved Quins to have signed. He secured the services of breakdown guru Julian Savli and lineout general Geoff Parling, with the latter finally returning from injury last week. They will be crucial to how Exeter perform this season. The squad a has a good young English core to it too, with future England stars Jack Nowell Henry Slade and Luke Cowan-Dickie in their ranks. Their real strength depth comes in the back row. They have a lot of very classy options there with Dave Ewers, Tom Waldrom, England’s forgotten man Tom Johnson (who played very well against Bordeaux) and Don Armand, who has been the pick of them so far this season. They also added some pace and finishing prowess to their backline over the summer with James Short, who will be hoping to finally settle at a club. They will likely be marshalled by perhaps the most underrated halfback pairing of Will Chudley and Gareth Steenson. Steenson in particular deserves a lot of credit due to his development since Exeter were promoted. Quins will be wary not to giveaway penalties in their half with his kicking accuracy and then also the big boot of Slade if needed. 

Team Selections 

Coming back to Premiership rugby, I fully expect all of our big guns to back in after a helpful week off. The main selection interest/worry will surround our back row, which seems very depleted after a number of injuries in the position. Although it is unclear how serious some of the knocks to them are. Clifford, Wallace and Robshaw have all picked off knocks during the last two games, with Wallace perhaps being the most serious. Whilst Clifford was indeed stretchered off, he was up and walking about post-match so hopefully he has times to fully recover in the long nine-day gap before the game. If all three are fit, I expect Robshaw and Clifford to start, with Wallace having an impact off the bench though it’s hard to predict this area. I expect Marler, Ward and Jones to return to the team, whilst in the second row it depends on the fitness of Horwill. If he is fit, he plays and I think he should partner Twomey after his fantastic start to the season. This is no disrespect to Mathews whose form is slowly starting to improve. In the backs, Care and Evans are certainties after I thought Dickson and Botica both had poor games last Thursday and it worries me if Care and/or Evans get injured due to the sudden drop in quality and cover in these positions. On the wings, Visser and Yarde will be the combination if the latter is fit, but happy for Walker to step in if he isn’t. It was good to see him get on score sheet again. In the centres Lowe will partner Sloan, as there has been no reason to think that he is injured despite no featuring in either of the European games. I’m not surprised he didn’t play with his recent injury record as deserved a rest. No debate, Brown will play 15, despite OLH looking good VS Cardiff. 

My Team to face Exeter Chiefs (though lack of knowledge about the injuries could impact it); 
Marler, Ward, Jones, Twomey, Horwill, Clifford, Robshaw, Easter; Care (c), Evans, Visser, Sloan, Lowe, Yarde, Brown
 

Exeter also rotated their squad (not to the extent that Quins did) so I expect their starting team will be more like their game against Ospreys or Leicester. They will probably put out an experienced side out and I think Parling will probably start to try and take advantage of a faltering Quins lineout. However Luke Cowan-Dickie has been ruled out of game after breaking his thumb so their club captain Jack Yeandle will start (not a bad replacement). 

Possible Exeter team to Quins: 
Hepburn, Yeandle (c), Francis, Parling, Welsh, Ewers, Salvia, Armand; Chudley, Steenson, Short, Hill, Slade, Jess, Nowell.
 

View from One of Our Hosts (@Sioux Chief) 

“Personally I always look forward to our matches and next weeks promises to be a cracker. We have had a good start, losing to Bath was disappointing, we saw off Irish comfortably and got back to winning ways against Falcons but came through the biggest test by seeing off Tigers at home. 
I wasn't too upset by losing to Ospreys but the manner of defeat was a concern. I've put it down to our boys trying too hard to impress. 
I'm really looking forward to our clash, I like the way Quins play and it promises to be an exiting game. I'm gonna stick my neck out and predict a Chiefs win....narrowly I think. 
Hope some of you can make the trip and enjoy our company as I often have at The Stoop.”
 

So on to the game and I am finding it difficult to work out how this game will go. During Exeter’s time in the Premiership, the games between the teams at Sandy Park have either been a big, heavy Exeter win or a very close Quins win. We shouldn’t underestimate the benefit of the extra 2 days we have had to recover and prepare for this game and hopefully we can take advantage of it to get some of our knocked players fit for the game. However, Exeter are a very good side and not many teams will win down at Sandy Park this year. I think Quins’ hopes depend heavily on the fitness off some big players. We need at least two of Clifford, Wallace and Robshaw to be fit and also we need Horwill back to fix our lineout, which has been struggling since his injury. 

I think it’ll be a tight contest and it will be by far the toughest game of the season for Quins so far. Without a doubt I would take a losing bonus point but I do think quins have a good chance of, what would be seen as by many, an upset. Our defense has been outstanding this season and has been the basis of why we are playing so well. We need to put them under pressure and not allow Slade to dictate the game; if he does it could be a long afternoon. If you compare the two sides, it is very evenly matched in most positions. But I would say individually Quins probably have the better quality across the park, but what makes Exeter so potent is their team ethic and partnerships throughout the team. 

In order to be deemed fair, I will have to go with head rather than my heart with this one and predict Exeter will sneak it. However, I would not rule out a Quins win. It will be fascintating battle between the 2nd and 3rd placed teams in the league and we will learn a lot about the prospects of the sides. 

My Prediction; Exeter Chiefs 19 Quins 18 

(After writing this, I listened to Conor’s post match interview, he confirmed that both Wallace and Robshaw will be fit, Clifford could be too with the nine-day gap being a bonus to him).

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Exeter Away- Toughest test to date
Discussion started by ComeAllWithin.co.uk , 24/11/2015 22:15
ComeAllWithin.co.uk
24/11/2015 22:15
What do you think? You can have your say by posting below.
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Monte
25/11/2015 14:01
Thanks for preview. Weather for cast strong winds 40mph and heavy rain could be interesting!

PickledPelican
25/11/2015 15:08
Great review

Well done.

Thomas Hawk
25/11/2015 23:01
I know Julian Salvi is notoriously slippery but who would have thought he was as well lubricated as "Saliva".

Not being a grammar @#$%&, Just observing Iam guessing the curse of the Spell checker striking again..

Quins4life
25/11/2015 23:28
Quote:
Tom A Hawk
I know Julian Salvi is notoriously slippery but who would have thought he was as well lubricated as "Saliva".
Not being a grammar @#$%&, Just observing Iam guessing the curse of the Spell checker striking again..

Yep.. spell checker did me there. Damn my poor proof reading skills

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