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Matchg review - Manchester 19 Exeter Chiefs 26
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By 3 Wheels on My Wagon
November 4 2008
3 Wheels on My Wagon reports on a closer than expected result when the Chiefs visited Manchester last Saturday. Whilst the Chiefs were expected to come away with a five point win, which they did, not many supporters would have put money on Manchester getting a losing bonus point.
Chiefs flag
November 4 2008
3 Wheels on My Wagon reports on a closer than expected result when the Chiefs visited Manchester last Saturday. Whilst the Chiefs were expected to come away with a five point win, which they did, not many supporters would have put money on Manchester getting a losing bonus point.
Manchester Review Expectations had this fixture down as a high scoring event, with Manchester on the receiving end of it, even their Director of Rugby, Dave Baldwin, and their Chairman, Neil Sykes were very down beat about their chances of being able to pull off a major shock. Numbers in the 50’s and 60’s, even the 70’s had been bounded around, some hoping for another Chiefs record breaking win.On the way up the motorway, it was clear that there was plenty of sports action in the region, having passed numerous coaches packed with supporters of well known football teams, not mentioning any names to avoid upsetting anyone. Entering Grove Park, it became fairly obvious that we were not going to be helping to break any attendance records, many Manchester RFC fans having decided that they would rather watch a footie game than their local rugby team getting stuffed. Our travelling support eventually making up for a sizeable proportion of their 374 gate, but then those that turned up were true supporters, willing to watch their team through thick n thin, and expecting on this day to see a lot of ‘thin’.The weather was ideal rugby conditions, sunny, with a chill in the air, but with no rain in sight. The playing surface had absorbed some rain and was a little tacky, but conditions that most rugby players would appreciate. From kick off it looked like the expectations were going to run true, with Exeter winning a series of penalties in the first few minutes and opting for lineouts and scrums as opposed to going for goal, their eyes set on an early bonus point. At 4 minutes, Chris Cracknell went over for a try, having been driven to the line by the pack, followed by a fairly easy conversion. Not long afterwards, the Manchester scrum half was sin binned for an offence around the ruck, which left their team in a bit of disarray, with the very next scrum having no one deputising in the scrum half position. But the Chiefs failed to capitalise on this, seemingly unable to put together any sustained period of flowing rugby. Lewis appeared to be suffering with heavy legs when chasing back deep kicks, whether it be lack of match practise, the ground being slightly heavy or both, he appeared to be struggling. The mishaps started, with basic handling errors, more reminiscent of a schoolboy game: dropped passes, forward passes, touch missed on at least 2 occasions from penalties. Our scrum that looked a lot heavier seemed unable to dominate and gave away several free kicks and penalties, luckily their kicker, with 67 points to his name this season, failed to find target on 2 occasions. On the return of the scrum half, Luke Stringer, to the game, Alan Miller, niggled by something not seen to us, decided to take a pop at Luke in full view of everyone including the touch judge, and was promptly sin binned himself. Steenson, not having a great game, decided to launch a high ball on our own 22, only for it to land a metre in front, and having failed to put his players on side gave away a penalty as one of them gathered it in. Chad Slade came on for his first game of the season, following a shoulder injury to Chris Cracknell.Late in the first half, the Exeter scrum managed to contain the ball and drive towards the line, Manchester defending like gladiators, but eventually running out of bodies and allowing Matt Jess to run over in the corner for a converted try. Just before Half time, Gareth Wynne, found target with a penalty. Presumably, with a lot of soul searching during the break, Exeter came out looking revitalised, which resulted in a break by Steenson, which was passed to Chad Slade to canter home to score, with Steenson adding the extra points. However, following this score, Exe again settled back into a period of schoolboy errors, continuing to give away penalties due to front row infringements in the scrum as well as with the dropped and forward passes, resulting in loss of ground. From an attacking position, Exe completely messed up their lineout, allowing Manchester to counter attack and give Gareth Wynne his second penalty score, followed closely by their first try, following a catalogue of errors in midfield.With a quarter left to go, fresh legs were brought on to try to increase the tempo, which seemed to work straight away with CSS feeding quickly from a couple of rucks in succession, only for Chiefs to then give away another penalty at a scrum. Shortly afterwards CSS fed a quick ball from the scrum to send Emyr Lewis over the line for their last score, but confirming at least a bonus point.Rather than build on their position, Exe allowed Manchester to pressurise again, at a time when most would expect them to be tiring fast, but keeping the ball in hand they managed to score their second try. From here they applied more pressure and looked almost certain of scoring again, but with time disappearing, and having consulted the ref at a penalty on the Exe 22, they decided to take the points, which secured their well deserved losing bonus point. The clubhouse was rightfully buzzing after the game, Manchester having succeeded in their initial aim, and with some more time on the clock, looked like they could have pulled off a major upset.This was not much of an early birthday present for PD. No doubt there will be a lot of hard work expected of the team this coming week, with the expectation that, with the Combined Forces v Barbarians match this week, involving up to 5 our squad, there will be many more changes in the team for the tough game against Nottingham on Saturday, with few of today’s squad having done themselves any favours. Nothing should be taken for granted.
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