By Darraghgirl
February 8 2016
Despite a very late offer of tickets, we weren’t able to make the journey to Exeter this time and I had no intention of writing this report. But the lack of any volunteers coupled with the immensity of the performance meant I couldn’t do nothing, could I? So here is an armchair report on a very windswept game way out west.
This was the second week of coping without our internationals (despite Itoje’s private jet trip down from Edinburgh ) and the additional absence of Taylor plus the harsh treatment of Ashy left us digging even deeper into our squad. Nevertheless, Mark McCall was able to rest Michael Rhodes (and presumably Bish Bash) and to leave Burger on the bench. Exeter have suffered a number of injuries (notably Henry Slade), but international call-ups left them relatively unscathed apart from the big loss of Jack Nowell on the wing. Seeing Ashy on BT sport facing up to what has happened to him showed what a big guy he is. It won’t help with the length of the ban but it might change some people’s opinion of him. As Dallaglio said, he’s not a dirty player.
The weather in my front room was actually quite balmy but I gather down at Sandy Park, Storm Imogen was already making her presence felt. The Sandy Park pitch was living up to its name looking more like a beach than a lawn! Exeter had the wind behind them in the first half – the debate was how many points was Imogen worth? Quite early on, Imogen’s power was evident when an aerial kick from Hodgson actually went backwards! Exeter kicked off and forward pressure secured a penalty which Steenson kicked to take an early lead. From the restart though the force was all Sarries and a try looked on. After a lovely show and go, Charlie opted to kick through when a pass inside could have resulted in a score. More pressure from the forwards and it looked as if the try was coming:- it was, to Exeter! Ex Sarrie, James Short intercepted a pass from Hodgson and ran the length of the field to score (complete with Ash-splash dive – Ashy awarded it 6 out of 10!). Wyles tracking across forced him to touch down wide and as a result Steenson missed the conversion.
Exeter thought they had scored a second through Atkins but the referee, Tom Foley, made the first of a number of decisions which were not exactly popular down in Devon, when he noted a “knock-on” and called play back. Sarries continued to press, guided by Hodgson & Wiggy into the teeth of the gale and despite the score, it was Sarries who were on the front foot. A rare foray by Exeter into the Sarries’ 22 resulted in 2 penalties to the corner. Foley was generous to Exeter this time and awarded The Chiefs a scrum 6m out. A 3rd penalty went to Chiefs, this time against Barrington and it was probably a minor victory that Steenson opted for the kick to extend the lead to 11-0 after 30 minutes.
Saracens’ superiority at the scrum won a penalty on half way and a second from the line out. Given the wind, Hodgson opted for touch again and Exeter offended for a 3rd time pulling down the maul. This time Hodgson got the kick in the corner but Exeter stole the lineout and all the good work was undone. As half time approached, still Sarries pushed forward and won yet another penalty which Charlie put back in the corner once again...…….and again the lineout failed when the ball was overthrown and Exeter cleared. A 5th penalty brought a warning only from Mr Foley (generous perhaps) and undaunted Charlie put the ball back in the corner. Finally the ball was secured, the maul was rolling and there was only ever going to be one outcome. Mr Foley checked the grounding but after much debate, Vunisa was awarded the try. Imogen blew the conversion wide and elicited a rueful smile from Hodgson.
So Sarries would probably have taken a 6 point deficit at half time with the wind at their backs in the second half.
The boot was literally on the other foot for Charlie as the 2nd half began. His kicks were now supercharged and he was able to pin Exeter back in their own half. The jet-setting Itoje was a welcome replacement for Hayden Smith (not that he played badly but Itoje is special). Chiefs defended bravely and even managed to edge back into Sarries’ half but a careless knock on and Sarries were back in charge. The gnarled appearance of Jacques Burger for Vunisa was not exactly joy to the Devonians either. Sarries messed up their own line out 8m out. The determined maul that was set up from the subsequent lineout, 20m further back, showed what might have been but the try line was just too far away. Ransom’s footwork took him close to the try line but again Chiefs defended well however the Sarries’ pack won a penalty from the scrum just 5m out. There might have been an argument to scrum again and go for the try (and potentially an Exeter yellow card) but Barritt ordered Charlie to take the points and narrow the gap to 3.
Ransom didn’t take the restart cleanly but by now the scrums were becoming a bit of a joke with of acres time being wasted on resets, largely by the Chiefs (who had clearly taken a few leaves out of Bath’s “Little Book of Time-wasting” last week). Mr Foley really needed to take charge and get things moving. More scrums, more resets, more time-wasting, more tedium. Finally Sarries cleared with a wind-assisted penalty.
A second Hodgson pass was intercepted, this time by Chudley, but he doesn’t have quite the fleet feet of Short and Wiggy was able to cling on desperately to a trailing leg until reinforcements came. More scrums, more resets, more time-wasting, more tedium.
Sarries + the power of Imogen got play back into the Exeter 22 and eventually they won another penalty which Charlie, going hard and low to minimise Imogen’s capriciousness, kicked to level the score with 12 minutes left on the clock. Now the teams were level, the scrum seemed to work better (funny that). Chiefs won a potentially kickable penalty but Steenson went for touch rather than take Imogen on. Exeter won a second penalty at the lineout which went back in the corner. Sarries defended the maul well and forced the ball wide. The defence, led by Burger & Itoje held firm and forced a Sarries’ scrum and the danger was cleared.
With 6 minutes to go, Steenson made a costly error when his kick was charged down and he caught the rebound offside. It wasn’t an easy one for Charlie, the wrong side of the 10m line and wide out on the right, even with Imogen behind him but fortune, as they say, favours the brave and Imogen blew straight and true and between the posts. Charlie’s longest penalty kick of the season apparently. For the first time in the match Sarries were ahead. 4 minutes of squeaky bum time to go. Earle came on for Ellery. Exeter won a penalty and got the ball back across the halfway line but the attack went nowhere. 2 minutes left and another scrum. Unsurprisingly no resets this time! Tomkins gave Exeter a sniff when he misjudged Imogen and put the ball out on the full. Exeter tried and battered but couldn’t get beyond the Sarries 10m line and Mr Foley’s whistle blew when a final Sarries lineout, suspiciously wonky, was safely kicked into the stand by Man of the Match Richard Wigglesworth.
One wonders how much some of these guys can give though through this international period. Significantly in the 2 areas where back-up is sparse, hooker and fly half, Brits and Hodgson have played virtually the whole 160 minutes. The games just keep coming, Wasps at home next week is another big challenge, no time to let up. If Eddie Jones sticks to a similar team next week, we may conceivably get Goode and George back for the Sale game (during the International weekend off) to give them some game time (and our old stalwarts a much needed rest).
So Sarries once again came through a difficult game and became the first team to win at Sandy Park in 13 months. The team has an iron rod through the middle and the likes of Brits, Du Plessis, Itoje, Burger, Wray, Wiggy, Hodgson, Barritt and Wyles provided a steel frame onto which the rest of the squad could weld. Sometimes the team is bigger than its players. Today Saracens triumphed.
EXETER
Dollman, Woodburn, Whitten, Hill, Short, Steenson, Chudley, Moon (Hepburn), Yeandle (Cown-Dickie), Low (Williams), Atkins (Stevenson), Parling, Armand, Salvi (Horstmann), Waldrom
SARACENS
Ransom, Ellery (Earle), Tomkins, Barritt, Wyles, Hodgson, Wigglesworth, Barrington (Gill), Brits, Du Plessis (Lamositele), Smith (Itoje), Hamilton, Wray, Brown, Vunisa (Burger)
SCORES
Exeter: Try: Short, Pen: Steenson (2)
Saracens: Try: Vunisa, Pen: Hodgson (3)
Attendance: 12,450
Referee Tom Foley
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Quote:Superman wears Schalk Brits pyjamas
Great report with a great title!
So proud of the boys for this win, we've shown great courage over the last two weeks.