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Exeter Chiefs v Tigers AP Match Preview


By ChrisC
September 8 2014

Sort Code Lottery. It’s a good many years since we took a major holiday in the UK preferring the USA., the Canary Islands, the Balearics and, of late, mainland Spain.     The weather is obviously a major factor with that of home unpredictable but our “never again” moment, oddly enough, came amidst a spell of sparkling summer weather when the English roads shimmered in the heat and the country seemed en fete for weeks on end as blue skies greeted every waking hour and, to quote a favourite Bruce Springsteen song: 

“And the girls in their summer clothes
In the cool of the evening light
The girls in their summer clothes
Pass me by” 

We rented a pretty cottage in a Cornish riverside village.  When booking I had been particularly careful to ensure that safe parking was close at hand as I had, a few weeks earlier, taken delivery of a beautiful metallic burgundy Audi S6 that was my pride and joy and, as is my practice, it was always immaculate. 

I was assured by the letting agent that opposite the cottage was a secure car park, to which a key would be provided. 

On arrival we left the climate controlled comfort of the car and, in the afternoon heat that scourged us, scurried as two frightened chicks into the cool of the cottage which was every bit as lovely as the brochure illustrations had promised. 

Having disgorged our luggage I set off to park the car.  I found the car park which was indeed locked but there was no key to be found.  There was though a sign declaring that the car park was no longer available to visitors to holiday cottages. I called the letting agent who I could feel shrugging her disinterested shoulders as I complained from hundreds of miles distant. 

There was nothing to do but seek parking in the village and feeling that the holiday gods were smiling on me I spotted a space which was designated for parking and had two other cars already in place, leaving a slot just big enough for me to reverse into.  A few locals were on a bench watching me manoeuvre and when I bade them “good afternoon” they smiled and nodded as I set off up the hill back to the cottage. 

Later we walked down to the village for dinner at the local pub only to find that the tide had made its way up the river and salt water was now lapping over the door cills of my car which was completely covered in salt water splashes which were already drying into crusty scabs! 

In the pub the same locals I’d seen earlier, who’d felt unable to warn me of the impending inundation, were mightily amused at my misfortune and the landlady also thought it a great entertainment that this grockle with his flash car had come unstuck.  After her mirth subsided she said the tide would be soon be down enough for me to extricate my car and during the interregnum what would we have to eat and drink. 

I said “nothing thanks” but if she’d let me have her bank details I’d set up a Direct Debit to send our money direct to the village as that would avoid them the inconvenience of our physical presence.  And with that I stomped out to rescue my beloved Audi leaving a slack jawed company in our wake.  

I doubt that such a reception will await Tigers players, management and those supporters making the journey west who’ll be delighted that their annual pilgrimage to Sandy Park is to be conducted while the weather has an opportunity to cooperate. 

The Chiefs’ supporters have an excellent reputation for the warmth of their welcome although that warmth will turn into perfervid heat from Rob Baxter’s charges once on the field of play. 

After winning their first senior competition last season, when they lifted the LV= Cup, at times Chiefs had less focus than Cosmo Smallpiece, finishing the season down in eighth spot. 

The Devonian side started this year’s proceedings with a saunter up the M5 to Oxford to meet the freshly returned London Welsh, who will be hoping for a more rewarding excursion into the top flight than they enjoyed a couple of years back when their visit was so brief as to border on rudeness and seemed mired in controversy from the outset. 

On Sunday Exeter put the new arrivals to the sword with a 52 point seven try drubbing while London Welsh failed to trouble the scorer. 

I’m not sure I learned much about the Chiefs from watching the debacle as it was much like opposed training for the visitors all I do know is that Tigers will be fitter, better organised and more accomplished when they are entertained at Sandy Park than were London Welsh at Oxford in spite of their including some well known names amongst their number. 

The previous afternoon Tigers got their new season off to a perfect start with a five point victory over Newcastle Falcons, Goneva picking up where he finished last term scoring his first hat trick of the season. 

Newcastle did manage a couple of tries.  The first of which should have been counted out had the assistant referee been paying attention as Sinoti leapt into the air whilst over the touch line to catch a Tigers’ kick with the aim of landing back in the field of play.  Good plan! However the Falcons’ winger landed with his outside foot on the touch line so was in touch. Sadly, with the first screaming officiating howler of the season that I’ve seen, it was missed (how could it have been so? The touch judge had just that action to concentrate on?) and the visitors cantered down field for a try. 

But in the end it was a worthwhile workout for Tigers with Newcastle giving a good account of themselves to make it a better contest than the score line suggests. 

What I suppose is Tigers’ second string pack of Mulipola, Ghiraldini and Balmain had a good afternoon’s work and it will be interesting to see if, as should be the case, Tom Youngs is rotated with Ghiraldini.  I expect though that the starting props for Tigers will be unchanged with the substitutes of the handy looking Pasquali and Bristow getting more game time from the bench. 

The hosts will find the Tigers’ front row more of a test both in the tight and the loose than they did that of London Welsh.   

The ex Cornish Pirate; Carl Rimmer, carried on in the absence of Brett Sturgess who has been sidelined since January with a serious knee injury but is scheduled to play in an A team fixture on Monday evening. Rimmer was much in evidence and had a lovely sunny afternoon of causing trouble, however he’ll be taking on the altogether trickier prospect of Fraser Balmain who gave his opponent all sorts of trouble, having Vickers in some difficulty at times but nothing compared to the bother Mulipola caused Tomaszczyk and of course Sturgess could play a part for Chiefs come Saturday. 

Rob Baxter fielded young ex Doncaster and London Scottish tight-head; Tomas Francis last Sunday but against Tigers he may go for the experienced Scottish international tight-head Moray Low who’s recently arrived from Glasgow Warriors and with almost thirty caps to his name could be a better antidote to Tigers’ Samoan international. 

 If Baxter is going for international experience opposite Ghiraldini or Tom Youngs for that matter then he has another new signing; Elvis Taione to call upon.  The thirty-one year old Tongan international arrives in the English West Country from Jersey where he spent two seasons having previously been with Western Force and the Waratahs in Super Rugby. 

This trio would be more of a handful at scrum time but if the same threesome that started against London Welsh is retained then they could find themselves in some difficulty. 

Dean Mumm, the truly talismanic leader of the Chiefs, is recovering from shoulder surgery so is unlikely to be available and with Welshman Damien Welch also sidelined while he recovers from ankle surgery the new signing from Bath; Ryan Caldwell could well continue.  The Ulsterman has had a horrible time with injuries of late and in the last two seasons at Bath his game time has been severely limited.  However when he’s firing on all cylinders the Belfast born lock is a fine, abrasive individual in the classic second row mould and will be a great addition to the Chiefs’ squad and alongside either Mumm or Welch will form a partnership to be reckoned with. 

A lesser known signing, ironically from London Welsh who he joined from Eastwood, is Mitch Lees who was everywhere at the Kassam but if neither of the second row luminaries are fit I suspect that Zimbabwean Armand could be alongside Caldwell this time out. 

Tigers have their own travails at lock with Ed Slater on the treatment table for most of the season after being another injured on England duty and the injury seemingly one to again be missed by the England medical team. Louis Deacon and Brad Thorn are not fit yet but Geoff Parling sounds likely to start alongside Graham Kitchener.  

If that comes to pass then I can see Tigers doing well at line out time, especially as it also sounds as if Tom Croft will be available to take the blind-side spot and add his considerable presence to the Tigers’ set piece. 

Zimbabwean; Dave Ewers moved to the blindside for the Chiefs against London Welsh and not only provided his usual grunt and destructive defence but showed improved ball carrying alongside Thomas Waldrom who, at #8, revelled in the non tackling hosts.  He’ll be pumped up for the visit of his old club but Tigers’ supporters will remember how imprecise the Kiwi can be when the adrenaline is pumping. It’ll be a feisty and fascinating contest between him and Jordan Crane with their opposing styles of play. 

Tom Johnson played in the pre-season for Chiefs but wasn’t in the squads that trounced London Welsh or that against Saracens’ Storm team. I can’t find any report of the England flanker being injured so maybe he’ll return on Saturday to fight it out with Ewers for Chiefs’ #6 shirt where either would be a potent threat in the loose. 

Tigers’ ubiquitous pasta and Maple Syrup signing; Robert “Bunny” Barbieri continues to impress and could once again be covering the back row.  

Australian Ben White, ex of Brumbies and Cardiff, appears to be carrying the open-side banner for the Chiefs these days having made sixteen Premiership starts last season and a fine player he is too.  I confess to missing the sight of Scaysbrook ferreting around but White, while not an archetypal open-side, is efficient enough but Scaysbrook may be better equipped to meet the challenge of Salvi. 

Hard to forecast the outcome of the breakdown as it’s so much at the whim of the referee but my guess is that there’ll be an imperative for both scrum halves to expedite moving the ball away from what could be a chaotic tackle area. 

My feeling is that Tigers will have an edge at the set piece scrum (qv: whims of referees) and that Ben Youngs, who played very well last Saturday, will want to get his big runners at the probable mid field combination of the very talented but still relatively callow Sam Hill and Henry Slade. 

Aside from these two youngsters (both are twenty years old) Exeter are slating just Irishman Ian Whitten, who was on the wing last Sunday, with young ex Cornish Pirate the New Zealand born Tom Hendrickson  and Fijian Naqelevuki as centres although these days the Fijian is being eyed as a back row by Baxter. The big South Sea Islander, now thirty-three, has played very little rugby for the last two seasons and while it could be a worthwhile strategy to use him to combat the power of Bai/Tuilagi and Goneva Baxter may prefer to stick with the prodigiously talented youngsters.  With the tough Shoemark back in New Zealand options look limited in the centre unless the speedy Dollman is fit and can again be pressed into service. 

Haydn Thomas started at scrum half for the Chiefs last time but soon after half time gave way to Will Chudley.  If Thomas has a knock and Dave Lewis is still ruled out by the elbow injury picked up in the pre-season against Cardiff then the ex Bedford and Newcastle player looks set to continue against Tigers although ex Tiger Pat Phibbs was to run out for Exeter’s A team.  Either way with Youngs in good shape I can see him getting a march around the fringes and get his backs moving. 

However the Exeter back row is very mobile with White, Ewers and Waldrom and they’ll be seizing on any chance to run down the 9/10 channel to test the defence of Tigers’ half backs. 

It will be interesting to see whether Cockerill rotates his fly-halves this week and gives Owen Williams his first start.  My preference would be for the Welshman to start with Burns, who looked very calm and accomplished last time, coming on later to test the tiring home side’s defence with his wizardry.  Neither though will be found wanting defensively. 

Baxter for his part gave Steenson, who’s very much back in favour down at Sandy Park, a start and as usual he didn’t disappoint, he has the vastly experienced Ceri Sweeney as his back up these days. 

Tony Allen was mysteriously missing from the Tigers’ squad that faced Newcastle leaving Bai to slot another impressive performance. If Allen’s fit, and of course with Tigers as tight lipped as an Omerta swearing Sicilian, there’s no way of knowing.  If he is fit then here too I’d like to see some rotation.  Eiither Bai or Allen will test the precociously talented Chiefs’ youngsters. 

And of course facing Manu Tuilagi and Nikki Goneva roaring through will be an entirely different prospect to that posed by Tom May and his venerable colleagues at London Welsh. 

Out wide, with the excellent Jack Nowell still injured from the last encounter between Tigers and Chiefs when he bravely got up close and personal with Mulipola on the rampage, Exeter will almost certainly stick with the one time try scoring machine; Matt Jess. I though would like to see more of another youngster who’s just secured the “key of the door”; Jack Arnott who made his try scoring Premiership debut from the bench last weekend. 

Baxter does have the extravagantly be-whiskered Tongan international Fetu’u Vainikolo, who impressed last season and Welsh Under 23 international; Adam Hughes who signed from Bristol where he tarried en route from Newport Gwent Dragons for whom, even though still just twenty-three, he made seventy-four appearances, and they join Thom James in the armoury of Sandy Park speedsters. 

Tigers own try scoring machine Nikki Goneva will doubtless be on duty and in harness again with Blaine Scully.  This pair are a really good combination with Scully’s defensive work surely amongst the best in the Premiership, which it’ll need to be under the high balls that Slade, Steenson and Botha will rain down from a, hopefully, azure Devonian sky. 

Niall Morris continues to make the most of his opportunity to latch on, limpet-like, to the Tigers’ #15 shirt in the continued absence of Matthew Tait and the Irishman  will be able to see another new arrival at Sandy Park; Chrysander Botha.  The twenty-five year old Namibian international has arrived from Super Rugby’s Lions and was previously with Namibia Welwitchias other than that he is, I believe, the second Namibian in the Premiership (Jacques Burger at Saracens is the other) he looks OK.  He didn’t have much to do against London Welsh on the defensive front and he took his try well and that’s it really! 

It’s always a tough contest at Sandy Park and it may be that Tigers will have benefitted more from their rigorous work out against Falcons than did the Chiefs from their routing of the frankly awful London Welsh. 

We’ll see but with my one eye firmly focussed I’m optimistically going for a narrow Tigers’ victory but no West Country inundation this time around!

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Exeter Chiefs v Tigers AP Match Preview
Discussion started by TheLeicesterTigers.co.uk , 08/09/2014 19:52
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08/09/2014 19:52
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014:09:16:13:11:15 by Tiggs.

Tiggs
08/09/2014 20:00
Many thanks to Chris for yet another masterpiece !!

http://uploadscdn.sportnetwork.net/upload/103/103_0_1529059667.jpg

Purebob
08/09/2014 20:33
Chris that's one of your best in a while sir. Should be a fine game !
I hope your Audi's famous rustproofing kept out the salt smiling smiley

Support Ed Slater's MND charity

Stopsy
08/09/2014 21:25
Thanks Chris, so difficult to tell based on last week's outings for both sides.

odd-shaped vagaries
09/09/2014 16:31
In Cornwall it's an Emmet [or Emmit]

In Devon it's a Grockle

Did they hide the warning signs? The warnings at Canute's Bosham, Hampshire, are prolific and you would have thought the Cornish could have managed some ...

But it's a sobering story regardless, a sad reflection on human nature [not exclusive to the South West] and a warning to anyone planning to move to Kernow

I'm hoping the game on Saturday won't sober me up, but justify one or more celebratory tipples, and I'll raise a glass to you, Chris, in thanks

'Lions led by donkeys' .. Lest we forget

S4llyC
10/09/2014 10:01
Many thanks as always, Chris, for another great article. Let's hope we can maintain our run against the Chiefs, and that the new combinations across the team continue to gel.

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