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Exeter Chiefs

15 Joe Simmonds
14 Jack Nowell
13 Tom Hendrickson
12 Ollie Devoto
11 Josh Hodge
10 Harvey Skinner
9 Jack Maunder
1 Alec Hepburn
2 Jack Yeandle
3 Harry Williams
4 Will Witty
5 Sean Lonsdale
6 Jannes Kirsten
7 Don Armand
8 Richard Capstick

16 Ollie Burrows
17 Ben Moon
18 Josh Iosefa-Scott
19 Christ Tshiunza
20 Sam Simmonds
21 Sam Hidalgo-Clyne
22 Ian Whitten
23 Sean O’Brien

Newcastle Falcons


15 Mike Brown,
14 Nathan Earle,
13 George Wacokecoke,
12 Pete Lucock,
11 Ben Stevenson,
10 Joel Hodgson,
9 Louis Schreuder;
1 Adam Brocklebank,
2 George McGuigan,
3 Richard Palframan,
4 Greg Peterson,
5 Will Montgomery,
6 Philip van der Walt,
7 Will Welch (captain),
8 Carl Fearns.
Replacements:
16 Robbie Smith,
17 Kyle Cooper,
18 Logovi’i Mulipola,
19 Gary Graham,
20 Callum Chick,
21 Cameron Nordli-Kelemeti,
22 Brett Connon,
23 Tom Penny

Match Officials

Referee: Andrew Jackson
Assistant Referees: George Selwood & Dean Richards.
TMO: Rowan Kitt.
Citing Officer: Dave Guyan

Weather

Light cloud with a moderate breeze from the west south west

Temperature feels like 11 degrees

Low chance of rain

TV Coverage

Not on TV this week

Chiefs 31 - 21 Falcons

Very pleased to see Sean O'Brien in the matchday 23. Looking forward to seeing him in action.

34-10 to Chiefs! COYC!

In Rob we trust.
By the way - cream on first. There's nothing to debate.

Anyone no the whereabouts of mr Woodburn?

Would of liked to see Sam start. Anyone know how long Big Dave's out for?

Also interested to see how Hodge gets on on the wing

Hoping for a home win Chiefs 27 Falcons 20

Chiefs 38 Newcastle 16

Chiefs 40 Newcastle 20

Quote:

Mintos
Anyone no the whereabouts of mr Woodburn?

Woodburn is back training again which is good because Flats is out with a fairly long term injury !

Exeter 35 - 13 Newcastle

According to a recent report on the injury situation, Big Dave suffered a non rugby injury and should be back soon.
Hopefully we can get a result from this one and then use the 2 weeks of Premiership Cup action to rest up and get injured players fit!

Chiefs 35 Newcastle 20

Our bench not as strong as usual. No big Dave yet and in view if last home performance I am a bit nervous. A win is essential for our season so 42 30 - a Chief's win.

Direct running Mid field will test their defence, pack should be ok, some big break out ball carriers for the rumble.
Chiefs 29 Falcons 13

What’s the news on Jacques Vernulian? Also, why is Dean Richards working as a touch judge??

Chiefs 31 Falcons 24

Exe 34-18 Falcons but I could be wrong!

Fisher, I just love the 'but I could be wrong' - I have been every week of the season so far.

However, I'm confidently going to say Chiefs 31, Falcons 24 ........ but I could be wrong



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2021:11:05:19:57:48 by ouch!_that_hurts.

Chiefs 28 - Falcons 21.

Said a little bit in hope

27-18 to Chiefs

Exeter 31 Newcastle 25

I’ll say 28 - 19 to Chiefs

Down here in sunny Plympton we are feeling (fairly) optimistic this morning. Bath got far closer to Tiggers than we thought they would although I think it had more to do with Borthwick's boys not being at their best than Bath's brilliance.
Mrs PC has Chiefs by 27 to 20 and I'm going for Chiefs 29 Newcastle 17.

Does anyone know if the England game will be shown at the ground this afternoon?

Hi Curry, Yes it is being shown from 3.15.

Thanks

Oh Dear!! Home form leaving a lot to be desired.

I'm glad i did'nt pay to watch that dross, don't mind loosing but Chiefs were terrible today and
Falcons were nothing special.

Firstly congratulations to Falcons seemed like they wanted it more with hard direct running and rolling maul that worked. Thought that we'd use the wind and keep pumping the ball into their half to play. Alas not.
Very disappointed with the score line. Probably the best and most vocal support out there today but it didnt work.
Something is missing or amiss in the team.
Cant believe that we can go from double champions to mediocrity so quickly.
On the positive side, the women won.

I agree boldeagle , the team has lost to a mediocre side and watching the game deserved it , lack of ideas ,senior players not good enough which shows the missing ones carry some. why on earth do we not take a a little thought in the line out at the end, same old same old rush it and lose it .every team knows what we do now so without the likes of ewers,hill,skinner ,why are we trying to push over. Hodge at times was near on alone on the wing but did he get the ball NO. A few players need to stand up and be counted at the moment. The only good today was Joe simmonds seem to be getting is form back , Sort it out RB

Couldnt make the game but looking forward, as ever, to the constructive and objective views of regular contributors. Call it ‘second guessing’ but I can only imagine that Jack M was one of the few that played anywhere near their best and the sooner we have his brother as back up 9 rather than SH-C, the sooner Chiefs will emerge from the realms of mediocrity

Not a single positive came out of today.

Our squad is one of the biggest in the Prem, but the back up players are not good enough. We need to trim the squad down and bring in quality players.

The big question I have is do we need a change in the coaching set up. Rob has been with the Chiefs for a long time. Is it a time for a change.

CFW you were the only one to gain a single point today as you were within one point of Falcons' score. I don't suppose it's any consolation?

Credit to Falcons, they deserved that victory although the obvious gamesmanship left a bit of a sour taste with Sir not being strong enough to deal with it.
We had a few tough calls with the penalties, especially the ones where we were on the attack in their 22 but that's the way it goes sometimes.
We didn't lose because of Sir, we lost because our attack looks very pedestrian and predictable without our gain line carriers.
We have become reliant on certain players getting us over the gain line and we just don't have anyone of a similar standard to replace them when they are missing.
Strangely our defence was excellent today and has been very good generally for 2 weeks running which allowed us to win last week but because of our faltering attack it wasn't good enough today. We should be scoring more than 14 points at home.
Rob and Co will have to earn their corn this season to put this right.
Maybe our lack of recruitment over the last couple of seasons is finding us out now?
Top 4 looks a real challenge with more absences and difficult games to follow

Quote:

Chief Fire Water
Not a single positive came out of today.
Our squad is one of the biggest in the Prem, but the back up players are not good enough. We need to trim the squad down and bring in quality players.

The big question I have is do we need a change in the coaching set up. Rob has been with the Chiefs for a long time. Is it a time for a change.

Are suggesting Rob is not the right person for the job?

Quote:

Chief Fire Water
Not a single positive came out of today.
Our squad is one of the biggest in the Prem, but the back up players are not good enough. We need to trim the squad down and bring in quality players.

The big question I have is do we need a change in the coaching set up. Rob has been with the Chiefs for a long time. Is it a time for a change.

For the past decade and more we’ve been on an upward curve and incrementally met every challenge. Once at the top, staying there is the hardest challenge of all. I agree with CFW and maybe a freshening up of coaching staff (or at least an addition to) is needed. This group of coaches now, for the first time, find themselves a little on the back foot and in uncharted territory, a new experience for them all. Have they got the know how to extricate us from the current situation? Is RB’s regular weekly rhetoric beginning to wear thin?

Quote:

Rowancroft73

Quote:

Chief Fire Water
Not a single positive came out of today.
Our squad is one of the biggest in the Prem, but the back up players are not good enough. We need to trim the squad down and bring in quality players.

The big question I have is do we need a change in the coaching set up. Rob has been with the Chiefs for a long time. Is it a time for a change.

For the past decade and more we’ve been on an upward curve and incrementally met every challenge. Once at the top, staying there is the hardest challenge of all. I agree with CFW and maybe a freshening up of coaching staff (or at least an addition to) is needed. This group of coaches now, for the first time, find themselves a little on the back foot and in uncharted territory, a new experience for them all. Have they got the know how to extricate us from the current situation? Is RB’s regular weekly rhetoric beginning to wear thin?

Here we go, time for the Wendyball mentality............ We're going through a bad patch (after being DOUBLE CHAMPIONS) so let's sack the man in charge. St James Park is in need of supporters if anyone if fed up with Sandy Park.

A strange afternoon and very disappointing performance. It can’t be often that a team loses and moves up a place in the league rankings!
Newcastle deserved the win because they kept their discipline and did an Irish on us, by consistently making their gang tackles on the gain line , catching our backs on the pullback ball, and kicking sensibly.
Our bluntness in attack was very evident again today and we dearly need some wit and invention at 10, 12 & 13. We also need someone with real pace, hopefully more than one. I’m not going to comment on individual players as I don’t think any one player played consistently well, or consistently badly.
There is clearly a major mental or psychological problem out there. I spent most of lunch chatting to Billy Keast and he felt strongly that the inability of the team properly to celebrate either of the “double” victories, had effectively created a grief burden that weighed down the players. We both felt that performance had dropped off a cliff after the opening four or so fixtures of last season, and that whilst the team had generally carried on winning it was a result of what for shorthand I will call “memory”, and that after last years final the habit had gone.
Add to that there are huge number of injuries at present ( as with many clubs- it’s simply what happens these days) and the lack of experience in many second string players is showing a bit. BK pointed out that for almost two years the same 23 had picked itself, so second tier players perhaps had nor got the experience one might have expected.
How this resolves itself I fo not know but listening to Ali Hepher after the match for the first time I felt that the coaching team were not recognising the scale of the problem . He talked of new or inexperienced players not being fully up to speed with the Exe way and systems , and how exposure will improve them. I sincerely hope he is right and that my gut feeling that something more fundamental needs to change, is wrong.
Our next home fixture in the Prem is Dec 4th v Saracens. I don’t think they are quite as strong as present results make them appear, but if we do not buck ip mighty quick another home defeat is on the cards.
Rob et al, over to you!

After years of success, culminating in being double winners, we have a few poor games and people are calling for coaching changes!! Bonkers!! Truly bonkers! The price of having quality players is you lose them during international windows, this on top of an unfortunate injury list has left us very bare in some positions. Losing Witty early just compounded that.
Falcons were hardworking and determined but limited. We were better in defence but a bit lacklustre going forwards, a bit more composure in their 22 and we'd have won that.

Quote:

Zyder head

Quote:

Chief Fire Water
Not a single positive came out of today.
Our squad is one of the biggest in the Prem, but the back up players are not good enough. We need to trim the squad down and bring in quality players.

The big question I have is do we need a change in the coaching set up. Rob has been with the Chiefs for a long time. Is it a time for a change.

Are suggesting Rob is not the right person for the job?

What I’m suggesting is the coaching set up needs refreshing. Do we need a new member of the team that has fresh ideas and can see a different way of playing

PINGO - Here we go, time for the Wendyball mentality............ We're going through a bad patch (after being DOUBLE CHAMPIONS) so let's sack the man in charge. St James Park is in need of supporters if anyone if fed up with Sandy Park.

Read the narrative Pingo, understand the context. Not sure CFW or myself are suggesting wholesale backroom changes, least of all as you put it ‘sack the man in charge’. Your ‘after being DOUBLE CHAMPIONS’ is actually irrelevant as I’m sure Sir Rob would agree.

We have refreshed the coaching team a few times over the past few years, bringing in Salvi, Steenson, and Thomas. However, some fresh external ideas would be good at some stage. Ex players are sure to reinforce what has gone before, but maybe not bring as much new as someone from outside.

Quote:

ExeterFan
We have refreshed the coaching team a few times over the past few years, bringing in Salvi, Steenson, and Thomas. However, some fresh external ideas would be good at some stage. Ex players are sure to reinforce what has gone before, but maybe not bring as much new as someone from outside.

Spot on.

Quote:

ExeterFan
We have refreshed the coaching team a few times over the past few years, bringing in Salvi, Steenson, and Thomas. However, some fresh external ideas would be good at some stage. Ex players are sure to reinforce what has gone before, but maybe not bring as much new as someone from outside.

100%

We haven't changed and other teams have moved forward. Don't sack anyone and wait. However, we need change and progression in ideas and players.

A very mediocre performance - Newcastle deserved the win. We have our internationals away, lots of injuries so lots of excuses but the reality was we seem unable to change our style of play even if key players are not there. We do not have the same 5M battering ram without them so why keep persisting with it. Our back line passing especially in the first half was dreadful. We had far too many knock 'ons' and passed wide often without first drawing a man negating the point. Witty was a loss early in the game - Joe Simmonds generally did well and brother Sam at least gave us some gain line success but lineout frailties and penalties in key areas really hurt us. I think top two is clearly beyond us this year and probably top four. The crowd tried their best but in many ways that was at least as bad as the Irish performance against a team that did not have to play very well to win at Sandy Park! It is clear that our current coaches and players at present still believe our old style of play will bring us success - IMO they are wrong.
The final frustration is the ever increasing army of orange invaders. There needs to be some serious regulation of when matches are interrupted. One 'medic' not the doctor was particularly eggregious in wasting time. At least in the end he got some stick from the crowd for his meaningless wanderings.

Quote:

Chief Fire Water

Quote:

Zyder head

Quote:

Chief Fire Water
Not a single positive came out of today.
Our squad is one of the biggest in the Prem, but the back up players are not good enough. We need to trim the squad down and bring in quality players.

The big question I have is do we need a change in the coaching set up. Rob has been with the Chiefs for a long time. Is it a time for a change.

Are suggesting Rob is not the right person for the job?

What I’m suggesting is the coaching set up needs
refreshing. Do we need a new member of the team that has fresh ideas and can see a different way of playing

Fair enough. I read that last sentence, or 2 was that Rob has been with the Chiefs for a long time and that it was his position that needed changing.

The orange hordes, partic the “ medic” were a complete pita. He was obviously coaching and it seemed adding to the Newcastle tactic of taking the pace out of the game. Although the ref chastised Newcastle at times he did nothing substantive about it , so fair play to them. But the whole farce needs examination generally.

Quote:

Debenair
The orange hordes, partic the “ medic” were a complete pita. He was obviously coaching and it seemed adding to the Newcastle tactic of taking the pace out of the game. Although the ref chastised Newcastle at times he did nothing substantive about it , so fair play to them. But the whole farce needs examination generally.

Indeed, all are as bad as each other. Members of coaching teams should not be allowed to carry the drinks and get on the field of play.

Yes, we are missing key players but to be successful, your back up players must also be good, imo, ours are at best average ! I agree with Rowancroft, our Coaching team have not had to do much in the last 6 years, our methods need refreshing and there is a question mark over whether they have the ability to do that, I hope so ! Can someone please tell me why Devoto was replaced by Whitton when we had O’Brien on the bench ????? Also why we threw a long lineout ball at the end ???? Madness, surely you keep it simple, throw short, secure the ball and then go.

IMO our squad is to big, we need to trim it down and add more quality.

If we become short due to injuries aren’t we allowed to bring in emergency cover. Saracens and other teams have done this.

Sadly another dreadful performance and indeed a poor game in general with little or no attacking offloading running rugby played by either side. Newcastle deserved their win on defence far better at turnover ball than us.
In the absence of front foot ball from the pack we look so sterile and totally lack inventive play in the backs which starts from 9 and10 in my view. Our obsession with the 5m catch and drive to try and score with the bash bash approach thereafter ignoring simple overlaps to simply move the ball out wide reflects poor management on the field. It works when you are dominant up front but we haven’t been all season bar the Wuss game. Hence so many turnovers lost.

Once again our return on the kick chase from the box kick brought about next to no reward we are so poor but continue to gift back possession. Without big Dave nobody has the skill set to offload in the tackle to keep the ball alive and as such we are so easy to defend against.

I believe our fall off from the better teams is twofold, firstly recruitment when was the last time a new signing has made a difference ( must be two years ) and secured a first team place and secondly the golden generation of academy resources has dried up. You just have to look at Leicester totally overhauled their squad and brought through many academy players who were dominant in the academy league for the last few years. This may just of course be a blip and some of the younger players develop quickly.

We do of course have international call ups and been unlucky with injuries but so have most clubs. There is no lack of effort from the players on the field who give it their all simply we are not good enough at the moment.

I have a feeling we could finish the season in the lowest position since we came up which should have the alarm bells ringing not only the coaches but the inevitable fall off in attendances.

I agree with the above post.

But as we have been so successful over the last few years without changing our game plan, are the players able to adapt to a new game plan and are the coaches able to implement one.

I don’t mean sack Rob in case anyone gets upset

The Chiefs' coaching group is a bit incestuous. Promotion from within is usually regarded as a good thing with everybody knowing which way is up, but occasionally refreshment is needed. I think that moment has arrived but it will be difficult to attract a top coach with the coaching hierarchy already well established. Remember the traumas Tigers went through to arrive at where they are now.
Like Broken Arrow I cannot see why O'Brien was not brought on for Devoto. He'll never become "experienced" without experiencing game time.

It is impossible to gauge the quality of our second line players. As Broken arrow says why bring Whitts on instead of O'Brien. How poorly do some of our players/team have to play before something new is tried or changes made. Our centre play without Slade has been too sterile for a long time. Our attack is very easy to analyse and therefore defend and our ruck clear out is often poor without any quick ball. If our second strings in the backs never get a chance to play how will they develop? We are missing a lot of key forward players but against Irish and Newcastle it was our back play that was the main problem IMO. We had plenty of possession but could not use it or execute when overlaps beckoned. It would be much easier with front foot ball of course but I agree with Chief Fire Water that I think our coaches need to adapt and change. They are all steeped in our traditional style of play - changing will be a process which will take some time.

I think we have to bare in mind the reduction of the salary cap in all this.
We have developed a core of international class players, their stock has risen and salaries with it, it then doesn't leave much wriggle room to fit in better quality reserves in the squad.
It could just be that we are now in a bit of transition stage?
The younger players are learning on the job and haven't got experience of playing under pressure in a team that is struggling a bit. They will learn a lot from this.
As someone eluded to before, some of the players that we are now relying on haven't had as much playing time in the last season or 2 because we have been relatively free of injuries but all of sudden we have probably 15 front line squad players missing through injury or international calls. It's not necessarily the international players that are hugely missed it is the players that might fill in in their absences.
When you think about it t's not that surprising we are having a struggle at the moment.
We have trimmed the squad to get under the cap by promoting academy boys so we can't do any more there.
I believe each team will have a period like this over this season so let's see what happens by the end.
We have lost our aura and teams see us as an opportunity for a W now rather than hoping for a lbp.
They come to us with confidence now and that's a big mindset change.
On the other hand we lack a lot of confidence, especially in the backs. That is glaringly obvious.

the main difference between the teams was the driving lineout, Newcastle's maul made a try, gained penaltys and sucked in defenders. Ours a lame duck.

Also we seem to have a snobbery about taking a drop goal, any time in the last 10 mins and we would have won. We are not good enough to be snobs at the moment.

No point in box kicking without Woodburn or Flats on the pitch.

We dont seem to have many players in form at the moment and the ones that are are getting injured, or away like Witty.

when we have been at our very best we have had Woodburn, Flats breaking the line in the middle of the field (the forwards just finished them off) and at our worst when Slade has to carry into contract. Has the 50/22 law stopped us getting our wingers in the game? How many times did Josh come in field?

We seem to have had to rotate players a lot this season

I’ve not read all the comments but I do think many of you seem to be over reacting. The team are going through a dodgy patch at present but that’s the way the world works not just rugby. We have led the way for a number of year but staying out front is not easy and other clubs watch and learn and desperately want to emulate us. There is also desire which leaves a very fine line between the established and those desperate to break into the incrowd.

We have a fine group of players an one of the best coaching groups in Europe and they will work and work even more to see the club succeed. Get on their backs too much and you will see change. Key players such as LCD and Slade can command considerably more playin elsewhere and if the two mentioned decided to move to Japan they could earn a small fortune before retiring. Baxter could say sod it and take the England job whilst others in the coaching group might try their hand at Bath or Worcester.

So now is the time to show passionate support and the good times will soon return.

Quote:

OAP (Over a pint)
I’ve not read all the comments but I do think many of you seem to be over reacting. The team are going through a dodgy patch at present but that’s the way the world works not just rugby. We have led the way for a number of year but staying out front is not easy and other clubs watch and learn and desperately want to emulate us. There is also desire which leaves a very fine line between the established and those desperate to break into the incrowd.
We have a fine group of players an one of the best coaching groups in Europe and they will work and work even more to see the club succeed. Get on their backs too much and you will see change. Key players such as LCD and Slade can command considerably more playin elsewhere and if the two mentioned decided to move to Japan they could earn a small fortune before retiring. Baxter could say sod it and take the England job whilst others in the coaching group might try their hand at Bath or Worcester.


So now is the time to show passionate support and the good times will soon return.

Agree wholeheartedly, the team has shown some real grit winning away at Sale and Gloucester and have narrowly lost two home games against Saints and Falcons. We were well beaten by Irish but, as they showed yesterday, coming from 34-8 down at Sarries to draw the game, they are a dangerous attacking side.
We are missing 15 players to International call ups and injuries and, without an A league for nigh on 2 years, a lot of our back up players have not had much game time. I am pretty confident that players like Capstick, Hodge and Tshiunza will become international players of the future but have got to earn their stripes in the toughest league in the world!

Sorry OAP not sure any of the criticism is over-reacting. It is just an honest reflection of what we see. LCD and co will not go anywhere because of what is written here. I do not think we are on anyone's back but it is a reflection of expectations not being met and questioning why. As you say it is very difficult to stay at the top - we have been there for several years. I have no doubt that our coaches and players are working very hard but I think the script will need to change to a recognition we need a rebuilding phase. During that time I have no intention of being anything other than a passionate supporter.

I couldn't make the game yesterday, and any loss is disappointing, but especially at home against a team that has a played 19 won 2 record against us.

I have however checked the premiership table, and see we're still top 4 (and likely to remain there after today's game too).
We're not on the same points trajectory as previous seasons, but we only need to be top 4 at the end of the season to keep title hopes open.

We knew it was going to be a tough season, and you can't win them all, with people naming 6-7 clubs that they think would be top 4 at the end.

The law changes took away many of our previous strengths, and time wasting by opponents trying to remove our fitness advantage.

I have faith in Rob, the coaches and the club.

A bit of stability wouldn't hurt, the same team playing together for a few matches, its all fine margins and a bit of luck leads to you winning these games and getting to finals.
Need the East Stands back section finished to close that section off, it will help with the stadium sound etc.
Not a bad team just miss fire, new laws do not cause players to drop passes etc, we will get there, not as champions but we don't need to be to get to the final.
Tough task coming up, but it could be like we were years back when we put away the strong teams but lost to the so called easier ones, and still made the final.
If we don't make the final its not the end, we are not exactly relegation fodder if there was such a thing anymore.

As soon as Woodburn is fit, I would drop Nowell and pick Woody !! He didn’t chase a single kick yesterday, looked off the pace and was poor in defence. He seems to have lost the spark that made him so unpredictable.

My view, for what it's worth ... We're missing a massive amount of 'grunt' and that's impacting our performance across the park. Be patient and when they return we'll see a side we're more familiar with ... And they will know only too well how much work there will be to finish out the season.

In Rob we trust.
By the way - cream on first. There's nothing to debate.

There is a lot wrong, for a lot of reasons, at the moment but what baffles me is why we persist with 5m bashing as our main weapon. The latching & goal line kick rules make that whole strategy much less effective for everyone and yet it remains our central game plan. Surely the coaches could see that it can’t be as effective as it was. It may the the Exeter way, but the laws changes mean it will continue to be less and less effective. They need to change the mindset & game plan quickly.

Posting after a day to calm down and reflect. There were some positives out there yesterday believe it or not.
1. Christ getting some good game time in him, he looks to be a good prospect going forward.
2. Joe did some good stuff from FB, hopefully this will improve his confidence which has taken a huge hit, he seems to have suffered more than others from the fear of failure.
3. The boys are trying hard, we cannot fault their effort
4. Kirsten looked to be good and strong on his return.
5. We are fifth despite our poor form
6. We moved up in the table.

We are all searching for the answer as to why we are not winning consistently. I think there are a couple of reasons.
We are letting sides off the hook with poor basics, how many dropped balls were there yesterday, often at the first receiver which killed us in the 22. Passes were at knee height a lot of the time which didn’t help. We are forcing the play to often, miracle balls out of the back when we need to play percentages. As others have said the bash bash has worked previously and it still will, however there was a few times yesterday where we had a three on two of in one play a three on one, yet we kept going forward play pick and go.

We clearly have a fear of failure in some of the more experienced players, coupled with our inexperienced players we have the perfect storm at present.

I will hang on the hope that we can just make top 4. Is Rob planning a championship style assault this season. No preseason with focus in kicking on from January with a second pre season over the Christmas break when we have our off week?

If this team can get to the too four the following team will be a test for anyone.

1. Hepburn
2. LCD
3. Williams
4. Hill
5. Grey
6. Ewers
7. Vermuelen
8. Simmonds
9. Maunder
10. Simmonds
11. Woodburn
12. Devo
13. Slade
14 Nowell
15 Hogg

16 Yendle
17 Moon
18 Street
19 Skinns
20 Kirsten
21 SHC
22 Hendrickson
23 Cordero, Flats

Twelve different than started on Saturday,.

Certainly makes me feel a whole lot better! We just need to keep faith with the team who are learning the hard way at the mo!

My view of yesterday's match

1 - Joe S looked better at FB than FH - able to use space more effectively, had time to play to his strengths. Part of the problem (for me) with him at FH is he's sometimes just shipping the ball onto the centres.

2 - Kirsten looked fit and up for it

3 - Totally disagree with Broken Arrow about Nowell's defence - he tackled well and didn't over commit (he's often defending the outside edges on his own and is very good at slowing the attack down.

4 - Hodge doesn't draw defenders before passing so whoever he passes to ends up in a 2 on 1; tbf, he's not the only one but a bit more nous would help

5 - we need Big Dave or someone very similar if we're going to pick & go from 5m. Those out there yesterday didn't really have the grunt to get it over the line

6 - not just yesterday but a lot of our passes, especially from set plays, seem to be high or low causing the receiver to jump/stop/falter both taking pace out of the attack and causing knock-ons; watching Saints a few weeks ago they seemed to put the ball out in front of players to run onto

7 - while I'm not blaming the ref for the loss, I thought he was pretty mediocre, inconsistent and lacked control.

8 - bloody orange bibs; if the Prem or World Rugby doesn't sort things out the game will defend into farce

9 - dunno if it's because many in the east stand had been on the p1ss all afternoon but there was a lot of heckling, etc. when Falcons' kickers were on - as a STH in ETC I really would prefer we (i.e., Chiefs supporters) don't get a reputation for rudeness/gamesmanship

Quote:

AH-64
Posting after a day to calm down and reflect. There were some positives out there yesterday believe it or not.
1. Christ getting some good game time in him, he looks to be a good prospect going forward.
2. Joe did some good stuff from FB, hopefully this will improve his confidence which has taken a huge hit, he seems to have suffered more than others from the fear of failure.
3. The boys are trying hard, we cannot fault their effort
4. Kirsten looked to be good and strong on his return.
5. We are fifth 4th despite our poor form

Fixed that for you
Prem table as 071121

Certainly makes me feel a whole lot better! We just need to keep faith with the team who are learning the hard way at the mo!

Ouch that hurts - all very good points, obviously I have my own thoughts about Nowell but that’s fine. Your point 6 is very valid, our receivers always seem stationary when they receive the ball, you can’t pass out in front of a player unless he is already running. We never used to do this so why now ?? It just allows a rush defence to close you down rather than forcing them to sit back, which creates time.

I know it's the same for every club, but I think we have suffered more than most in that emerging players and new signings have not had the opportunity of the A league to show what they can do or improve in competitive rugby. Did anyone notice that at the start of the season Saracen Storm had two fixtures against the Championship club which had their week off which meant that they had match fit stand ins when required ?

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mommentum
the main difference between the teams was the driving lineout, Newcastle's maul made a try, gained penaltys and sucked in defenders. Ours a lame duck.
Also we seem to have a snobbery about taking a drop goal, any time in the last 10 mins and we would have won. We are not good enough to be snobs at the moment.

No point in box kicking without Woodburn or Flats on the pitch.

We dont seem to have many players in form at the moment and the ones that are are getting injured, or away like Witty.

when we have been at our very best we have had Woodburn, Flats breaking the line in the middle of the field (the forwards just finished them off) and at our worst when Slade has to carry into contract. Has the 50/22 law stopped us getting our wingers in the game? How many times did Josh come in field?

We seem to have had to rotate players a lot this season

"Going for the points would be the smart move". My words...not last night but at my only ever trip to the County Ground circa 1998! We had a chance right at the end and went for once last drive instead...which failed!

Still in a playoff spot for now but...what a bloody mess!

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Ouch that hurts - all very good points, obviously I have my own thoughts about Nowell but that’s fine. Your point 6 is very valid, our receivers always seem stationary when they receive the ball, you can’t pass out in front of a player unless he is already running. We never used to do this so why now ?? It just allows a rush defence to close you down rather than forcing them to sit back, which creates time.

It should be up to our 9's to get pace into our attack and get the guys running onto the ball. I believe Jack M has become rather pedestrian with his service. He is now a leader on the pitch and should have the ability to boss our pack and dictate the pace of the game.
I think he is a good footballer, but at this stage of his career he should be showing more leadership qualities. He had a great mentor in Nick, but I don't believe that he has moved up a gear.

Can't suddenly change tactics, coaches or whatever in mid season. Reckon that we just can't get the right mind set at the moment and thats really difficult to fix. Need the break.
Lets see what the cup games deliver in performance and maybe some promotion of our younger talent will be forthcoming. It may take another few years but maybe we've come to the end of this teams life.

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keithbar54
I agree boldeagle , the team has lost to a mediocre side and watching the game deserved it , lack of ideas ,senior players not good enough which shows the missing ones carry some. why on earth do we not take a a little thought in the line out at the end, same old same old rush it and lose it .every team knows what we do now so without the likes of ewers,hill,skinner ,why are we trying to push over. Hodge at times was near on alone on the wing but did he get the ball NO. A few players need to stand up and be counted at the moment. The only good today was Joe simmonds seem to be getting is form back , Sort it out RB

Falconista here. If mediocrity wins, I'll take it. Especially as we have the smallest wage bill in the Prem. Chiefs will return. Other "mediocre" sides will take advantage until then. Glad we got in early.

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keithbar54
I agree boldeagle , the team has lost to a mediocre side and watching the game deserved it , lack of ideas ,senior players not good enough which shows the missing ones carry some. why on earth do we not take a a little thought in the line out at the end, same old same old rush it and lose it .every team knows what we do now so without the likes of ewers,hill,skinner ,why are we trying to push over. Hodge at times was near on alone on the wing but did he get the ball NO. A few players need to stand up and be counted at the moment. The only good today was Joe simmonds seem to be getting is form back , Sort it out RB

Falconista here. If mediocrity wins, I'll take it. Especially as we have the smallest wage bill in the Prem. Chiefs will return. Other "mediocre" sides will take advantage until then. Glad we got in early.

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Blackwater Tribe

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Ouch that hurts - all very good points, obviously I have my own thoughts about Nowell but that’s fine. Your point 6 is very valid, our receivers always seem stationary when they receive the ball, you can’t pass out in front of a player unless he is already running. We never used to do this so why now ?? It just allows a rush defence to close you down rather than forcing them to sit back, which creates time.

It should be up to our 9's to get pace into our attack and get the guys running onto the ball. I believe Jack M has become rather pedestrian with his service. He is now a leader on the pitch and should have the ability to boss our pack and dictate the pace of the game.
I think he is a good footballer, but at this stage of his career he should be showing more leadership qualities. He had a great mentor in Nick, but I don't believe that he has moved up a gear.

No big surprise here but I will disagree with you on that point BT. The speed of ball from a 9 is determined by the quality of service from the forwards, Ben Kay pointed out that unless the forwards are getting over the gain line, the backs cannot function !!

I think our issue can be summed up by a single stat: average tackle completion of 83% - the lowest in the league.

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Poking With Sticks
I think our issue can be summed up by a single stat: average tackle completion of 83% - the lowest in the league.

Wow, that’s a shocking stat for Chiefs but as you say PWT, it does rather sum things up !! It does highlight how much we miss the likes of Ewers, Gray, Hill, LCD etc.. all of whom usually have very high tackle success stats. I’m genuinely blown away by that figure.

ok, having looked into the stat by PWS, it appears I owe the forwards an apology !! The following are stats for this seasons tackle success.
Armand 93%
Capstick 92%
Ewers 85%
Hill 76%
Lonsdale 86%
S.Simmonds 93%
Witty 83%

Cordero 54%
Devoto 53%
Nowell 66%
Flats 74%
J.Simmonds 69%
Maunder 84%
Slade 73%
Hogg 81%
H.Skinner 81%

I cannot find a stat for gain line success !!

It also depends on how the stats are recorded.

You'll often see the wings start a tackle on an opponent who is stepping back inside, only for the tackle to be 'finished' by a centre/back row.
How is that tackle recorded for the winger? as unsuccessful? because he didn't bring them to ground? in which case you'll get figures as quoted above.