Albion play ‘The Grinch’ as Exe lose 100%record. 

As derby day dawned once again, my own small raiding party boarded the train for Plymouth – delayed because some bright spark had stolen the signal cable at Taunton. Clearly, this was going to be a day out of the ordinary.             

Having arrived at the Brickfields, rumours abounded about Exe requesting the game be called off due to the state of the pitch following a heavy frost on the Friday night. As kick-off approached, the Redrow Stand was full Chiefs supporters, all wanting to head into Christmas with a record reading played 14, won 14.                        

The match kicked off, with the pre-match snow having morphed into heavy rain. As in many previous derby games, Plymouth try to take the game to Exe in the first 20 minutes, and so it proved again as they held the upper hand in the early exchanges.              

Albion are renowned for having a strong rolling maul, and so it proved again as Clark was penalized for lifting in the maul. From the resulting lineout, the pack started a rolling maul and Exe brought it down illegally, the referee awarding a penalty try. (7-0)            

Exeter sought to gain a foothold on the game, and managed to get themselves on the scoreboard through a Steenson penalty following an Albion infringement at the scrum.  (7-3) At this point in the match the Chiefs were enjoying plenty of posession.     

Now playing against 14 men for 10 minutes, Exeter sought to close the deficit, and did so via another Steenson penalty, Tuipolotu being caught offside. (7-6) However, Albion had the last word of the half, Alex Davies knocking over a penalty to give them a 10-6 half time advantage.

Over my half time cup of tea I reflected on a half in which Exeter had had no shortage of possession, but errors contrived to both possession and territory, but handling errors and misplaced passes meant promising attacks fizzled out. After a clever crossfield kick from Steenson which ended with an Exeter 5m scrum, Albion were repeatedly penalised at the scrum, ending with Martin Rice receiving a yellow card to put on his mantelpiece. This reporter’s only gripe with the referee would be not awarding a penalty try to Exeter at this point.  see them trailing. The Chiefs fans around me, like myself, expected us to come out with greater purpose and to have the answers in the second half. Sadly, we were wrong.            

The second half started with further instances of ill-discipline from Exeter, Davies and Lee each missing pops at goal. A farcical period of kicking then followed, much to the joy of the passionate crowd of nearly 4,500. After a spell of Albion pressure, Budgen was penalised for not rolling away, Davies making no mistake on this occasion. (13-6)

The Chiefs were struggling to find the answers to Plymouth’s rolling maul, and referee Mr. Kitt penalised them on several occasions, which ultimately led to Chris Bentley receiving his yellow Christmas card and 10 minutes in the sin-bin. Davies slotted the kick and Exeter had a mountain to climb. (16-6)             

Albion were clearly in the driving seat and, having kicked a penalty to touch on Exeter’s 22, set up a rolling maul (familiar story?). Exeter were powerless to resist and Keni Fisilau ended up touching the ball down. (23-6)            

A spate of Exeter changes followed, and the Chiefs started to play some fluent, carefree rugby to try and salvage something from the match. After going through several phases and some good running rugby, Mark Foster was presented with a simple finish to mark his 2^nd try in two games. Steenson added the extras, (23-13) and although Exeter tried to find another way through the Albion defence, it was not to be. Plymouth kept it tight in the last 10 minutes, and to the delight of the home crowd finished up 23-13 winners.            

Obviously, it’s very disappointing to have to write my first review about our first league defeat of the season. Let’s hope that the same doesn’t happen for my second review next Sunday!!            

On a serious note, I must give credit where credit’s due. Plymouth were up for the occasion more than we were. We seemed preoccupied by the state of the pitch and as much as it galls me to say this, we didn’t look up for a derby occasion. We had no answers to their rolling mauls, or seemed unwilling to commit too many men to them. There was too much aimless kicking, which wasn’t followed up. Albion did better in this department in that they chased kicks like men possessed. Whilst we enjoyed some good spells of possession, too many passes were thrown behind the receiver, or simply knocked on. The final negative was the high penalty count, especially at the start of the second half when we needed to start strongly.            

It is not all doom and gloom, however. How much this defeat will actually affect things, only time will tell. I’m a firm believer in that you only learn more about yourself through a setback rather than if you have it all plain sailing. Maybe we needed a reality check, a reminder that we’re not going to have it all our own way and waltz merrily into the Promised Land. I look forward to seeing a reaction against Bristol. Yes, it is more disappointing because it’s Albion, but 1 defeat in 14 does not a disaster make.             

So, congratulations Plymouth, you deserved that victory, but secretly you’d much rather be in our position, no?            Allegiances aside, I would like to wish you all a very, very Merry Christmas.            Matt.

View a Printer Friendly version of this Story.

Bookmark or share this story with:

• Digg
• Delicious
• Facebook
• Reddit
• Stumbleupon