Match Review 

EXE-CRABLE PERFORMANCE AS CHIEFS ARE TIED IN NOTTS AND DUMPED IN THE DEPTHS OF THE POOL

I could start this review by saying that there are 25 points left to play for, 15 will probably get you into the semis so what’s to worry about?

Or I could, and will, say:

This was defeat, raw, uncompromising, gut churning defeat. It cannot (and must not) be spun as “a bad day at the office” or “plucky underdogs turning over a favourite”, nor will you hear from me any complaints about refereeing or dual registered players.

This was the day that Exeter’s promotion pretensions were weighed in the balance and found to be not hopes, not aspirations, but pretensions now ruthlessly exposed by a Nottingham side that out thought us, out muscled us, out played us and out wanted the victory. A club with Exeter’s budget, stadium and setup should simply not be able to be swept aside for 60 minutes in the way that Nottingham swept us aside this afternoon, that, not where we may be in five weeks time, is what was so profoundly disturbing about today and is why the coaching staff can no longer hide behind the mantra of judging them at the end of the playoffs because if we have another debacle like today the end of the playoffs will be on April 17th not even May 1st.

Nottingham out thought us by realising the weakness of our defence leaving the unfortunate Matt Jess to try to tackle a 5 on 1 overlap at least twice. They outmuscled us at the scrum and by disturbing our lineout to the extent that we lost 3 throws on the trot, they outplayed us by three tries to none and they nilled us in the second half. The reaction of Nottingham’s coaches, bench and players at the end looked as if they had won the Heineken Cup, not one game in a six game series.

It is true that we could still top our Pool and the playoffs in general if we picked up 21 of the next 25 points however the coaches at both Donny and LW will be salivating to get their hands on the video nasty of today because, in truth, Nottingham did nothing more than the simple things and did them well. Exe over exaggerated, the last pass rarely went to hand, almost all of the possession won was kicked away (and run gratefully back by the Nottingham backs), we missed tackles (for their first try) were unable to defend the rolling maul and were utterly brainless when camped on their line, pick and stop, pick and stop, players without support going nowhere. We spent close to 10 minutes at the end on their line achieving nothing so why not a simple pass, a drop goal then back to the middle to start the assault again but oh no, pick and stop, pick and stop… (you get the picture).

On a more positive note well done to the away tribe who (unlike the players) competed with their Nottingham counterparts for the duration. A paltry crowd of 1,072 of whom at least 150 must have been from Exeter demonstrated the folly of Nottingham holding Premiership aspirations. If they can’t get them in with a BOGOF offer for members and for a game that their head coach had talked up to the skies I cannot (with the best will in the world) see how they think they are going to get Prem size crowds to support their ambition?

What can be done about Exeter?
1) Leadership. There was none out there today, it doesn’t even need to be on the field these days, with the water breaks it is easy for messages to be got to the players.
2) Selection. Marsden has to come back at 15, he commands the back 3 and controls the defence. Chad Slade played well but Johnson gives us another ball carrying dimension and we need to score tries, lots of them, more than the other side do.
3) Tactics. no kicking unless you’ve got 3 men in your face, then kick. (Steenson kicked 3 times in a row today then as soon as he had 3 men in his face tried to run out of his own 22). You cannot score tries if you aren’t carrying the ball. It isn’t rocket science.
4) Go back to basics and get them right. Executing simple plays, not trying to force the pace, taking the tackles or better still offloading the ball, setting up ruck ball and then running and passing the thing (not box kicking straight to their elusive and speedy wingers). That’s what wins games because that way you score more points than the opposition.
5) Coaches and players need to wake up and start earning the very substantial amounts that you are being paid at least in part out of the pockets of hard working people who want to take pride in their club’s achivements, not be embarrassed and infuriated in the way that we were today.

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