Exeter Chiefs
Falcons downed!
Prem
By Chiefs-fan85
February 19 2011
Chiefs come out top in must win game for both sides!
Newcastle Falcons 13 Exeter Chiefs 23
My first review for the Tribe, so apologies if I ramble on a bit…
After following the Chiefs for the past 20 odd years of my life, I’ve seen the Chiefs nearly reach the promised land of the Premiership on a number of occasions, always finishing just short. However when my job in Exeter was under threat, I took the opportunity and relocated with the same company up to Glasgow. It was typical then I missed the season when it finally happened and Exeter beat Bristol in that play-off! (I would like to take this opportunity to apologise to my flat mates and to the other residents of my block of flats for cheering like a mad-man that night.) No longer was I looking at potential away trips to Rotherham and Doncaster. I was looking at Sale, Leeds and of course Newcastle.
I would like to think that the company I work for (Insurance company, begins with A, ends with A and they seem to like yellow.) felt sorry for tearing me away from Exeter during this period of Chiefs’ history so they decided to sponsor the Premiership, although I have my doubts that’s the sole reason. Before the season started, I was already planning the Newcastle away match...
• Apply for a few free tickets.
• Catch the Saturday morning train down to Newcastle with a bunch of friends from Glasgow.
• A few beers in the City beforehand.
• Making our way over to the ground for a 3pm kick-off and me introducing my friends to the glory of being a Chiefs fan, before making our way back into the City for a few more beers.
However Newcastle decided that Friday nights are the best times to play rugby. - What is it they say about best laid plans? I did however manage to convince one of my friends to come down with me, unfortunately though he pulled out on Thursday due to his wife’s thumbprint being so evident on his forehead that it must hurt him.
So, after an awful day at work (must have been karma for the free ticket!), and not finding anybody else willing to put up with me for six hours of driving (despite the added incentive of a free pint) I set off in my car on my own, down to Newcastle. I left the office at 4pm giving me plenty of time to get down there. Half an hour into the journey, a car accident on the M73 grinds everything to a halt. Ironic considering that I deal with the after effects of car accidents for the before mentioned Insurance Company. That karma can really be a pain sometimes. Once that cleared up, my Sat-Nav gave me an estimated arrival time of 19:55pm – we’ll see about that!!
I would love to tell you about the trip down but it was pitch black and I couldn’t see anything. I saw a few road signs for Hadrian’s Wall but that’s about it. Plus I had to shave half an hour off my time, so the road had most of my attention. Well the road, and any suspicious looking vehicles on the bridges over the motorways! I arrive at the ground at 19:15, park my car for £8 and head into the stadium. I grab some food and take my seat for the match. It’s obvious to me that the Falcons want to win this one. They’re doing their best to raise the atmosphere in the ground, including a shout to each stand (Not a patch on the Sandy Park roar) there was also a band on the pitch playing some Geordie song about racing, some Cheerleaders who looked frozen solid and some awful drumming which continued throughout the match, this was clearly outclassed by the Tribe’s drumming by the band of loyal fans. After a minutes silence the game got underway with 5729 fans in attendance.
First half was a bit scrappy. Gopperth gave Newcastle the lead after five minutes after Exe infringed at a scrum and were marched back 10m for a bit of afters. Steeno countered with a kick of his own. Chiefs then got slightly lucky after a penalty from Steeno failed to find touch, however slow work from the Newcastle 14 allowed Jess to charge down the kick a earn Chiefs a 5m line-out. From there Chiefs drove for the line and were held up just short. This was the only time the try-line was threatened during the first half. A penalty soon came their way however from the resulting scrum and Steeno slotted it home to take the lead 3-6. Chiefs later illegally pulled down a rolling maul and Gopperth punished them for it and levelled the scores again. Apart from an incident when Gopperth tried to go through Budgie there was not a lot else going on, and when Gopperth failed with a penalty attempt from 50+ the half was over.
With the pitch showing the kind of divots a golf course shows after I’ve played 18 holes, the second half got underway. A charged down attempted clearance by the Chiefs led to another penalty chance for the usually reliable Gopperth. However again he missed and the scores stayed 6-6. Later on Hanks was taken out in a line-out and Steeno knocked the kick over to put Chiefs 3 up again. Then started the frantic five minutes, a cross-field kick by Newcastle found a Falcons player and with Steeno on the wing, a missed tackle and a couple of clever side steps later Newcastle were camped on the Exeter try-line. Exeter defended well for a number of phases, however could not hold out long and the Newcastle number 4 crossed for the try (oh, there’s that racing song again) which was converted by Gopperth who then had to leave the field as he couldn’t see (apparently). Damn, with fifteen minutes to go Falcons were leading 13-9 and my thoughts were turning to a losing bonus point.
It’s a good job the Chiefs are made from sterner stuff than I am. The restart kick was collected by the Falcons in their own 22, the ball was passed back for a clearance kick, but it only found the hand of Matt Jess (Not Tom Johnson as the BBC and Sky reported with their usual attention to detail) who made the charge down, he collected his own kick and crossed for the try. Steeno was unable to convert, however the score was now 13-14 and Newcastle heads dropped. Another Steeno penalty was kicked to widen the gap to four. The Newcastle replacement kicker picked up where Gopperth left off by missing a kickable chance. This again was punished by Exe with another penalty after the Newcastle tackler failed to release the player. Newcastle kicked for the corner and with their last chance to get something from the game, fluffed their line-out which Exe stole and cleared their lines. The last action of the match again came from the boot of Steeno after a Falcons player tackled a man without the ball. The kick was dispatched. Chiefs won 9-23 denying the Falcons a losing bonus point. The players celebrated on the pitch and with the travelling Tribe on the East Stand (which was great to see). It was a great team effort to win for the second time away this season in the Aviva Premiership. My personal MOTM would be Matt Jess, now looking to have found his feet at this level and due to two charge downs, gave us 8 points. Newcastle will keep looking over their shoulders at Leeds, however surely we can only start looking up now – surely?!
I made the trip back up to Glasgow. Sorry, it’s still pitch black, so can’t see much to report. I arrived back home at around 1am to find my flat-mates drunk and watching Q Music’s 99 Greatest Rock Icons, Led Zeppelin at number 5. Ramble On indeed.
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19/02/2011 17:27
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Oggy
UltraViolet: - Mine has gone up £100 this year. Blame the fraudsters.
and yes Oggyman, I expect that I'll be there for the Leeds match. I was looking at the train situation last night and applying for my tickets today!!
to get ours at somepoint 