Gloucester vs Exeter - Friday night

[Puja]

Gloucester Rugby

15. Jason Woodward
14. Louis Rees-Zammit *
13. Chris Harris
12. Billy Twelvetrees
11. Santiago Carreras
10. Adam Hastings
9. Ben Meehan

1. Val Rapava-Ruskin
2. Jack Singleton
3. Fraser Balmain
4. Freddie Clarke *
5. Andrew Davidson
6. Ruan Ackermann
7. Lewis Ludlow (c) *
8. Ben Morgan


16. Santiago Socino
17. Harry Elrington
18. Kirill Gotovtsev
19. Freddie Thomas *
20. Jack Clement *
21. Charlie Chapman *
22. Lloyd Evans *
23. Kyle Moyle


Exeter:

15. S Hogg
14. J Nowell
13. T Hendrickson
12. O Devoto
11. F Cordero
10. H Skinner
9. J Maunder

1. A Hepburn
2. J Yeandle (C)
3. H Williams
4. W Witty
5. S Lonsdale
6. S Skinner
7. D Armand
8. R Capstick

Replacements:

16. O Burrows
17. B Moon
18. J Isofa-Scott
19. C Tshiunza
20. R Tuima
21. S Hidaglo-Clyne
22. J Simmonds
23. I Whitten

[Mikey Brown]

Is Simmonds properly second choice to Skinner now then? Seems odd.

[Puja]

Is Simmonds properly second choice to Skinner now then? Seems odd.

Maybe he's carrying the can for the loss to Irish?

Puja

[Oakboy]

It will be interesting to see who kicks for goal.

[Mikey Brown]

Is Skinner not a kicker?

Never seen Hogg take anything sub 50m so no idea what he’d be like.

[Gloskarlos]

From the Exe site:
Baxter is full of praise for the Cherry and Whites and is in no doubt of the tough physical test they will pose in front of their raucous fans under the Friday night lights.

“In some ways they look like they’ve gone a little bit back to Gloucester DNA, scrummaging, mauling, being solid in defence and making you pay from five metres.

“If we don’t want to Maul, if we don’t want to be tough up front then it’s going to be a long day, because they’re getting some momentum from their pack, and they are finishing off that momentum with scores.

“Alongside that, they have got a couple of backs in that back division who can hurt you from anywhere, they’ve got plenty to play for, and it makes it even more of a challenge for us, but at the end of the day every game in the Premiership should be a challenge and you’ve got to enjoy that challenge.”

[Gloskarlos]

Got some decent returns from our maul of late, but I’m sick to death of our box kicking and Meehan likes to do it more than most. Another that could easily go either way, not sure I’ll make a prediction as I’ll likely be disappointed.

[Oakboy]

Is Skinner not a kicker?

Never seen Hogg take anything sub 50m so no idea what he’d be like.

I assume Skinner can kick but Slade has kicked lately if Simmonds is not on the pitch. What that implies, who knows - presumably, that Skinner is not as confident, competent or as physically fit as Slade who has not been the main place kicker for many years.

I suppose it matters less for Exeter than some teams because they don't often go for 3 point conversions.

[fivepointer]

Skinner kicks. Bit of a surprise he's still starting. Playing well enough but you'd have Simmonds as the No 1 ten.

Might be a very close game. I'm struggling to call it.

[Scrumhead]

Is Simmonds properly second choice to Skinner now then? Seems odd.

To be fair Skinner has been better than Simmonds this season. Simmonds has been well off his best when I’ve watched him play this season. Not sure what’s happened there? Carrying an injury?

[p/d]

Baxter:
He has been left out of the team but he is actually on form if you watch him play. We have got a great couple of options there and we are just very pleased with how they are both going.
It's what you want - when you make a change you want that guy to play well and you want to win and that is exactly what has happened. Harvey has been reaping the rewards of that, he has been reaping the rewards of playing well himself and the team has been functioning well around him and that is all it is.

[Mikey Brown]

That’s so perfect I can’t tell if you’ve made it up.

[p/d]

All the Robster

[Danno]

Glos really are their own worst enemy at times

LRZ showing his roots with a good protest at the ref

[Peej]

Skinner missing some straightforward points off the tee

[Oakboy]

Now we know why Slade was kicking in earlier games.

[Puja]

Gloucester are an absolute mess - no-one running onto the ball, nobody reading each other's moves, and all their go-forward comes from individuals making something out of static ball. That said, they came very close to a result through sheer bloody-mindedness, and it should worry Exeter that they even got close.

Puja

[fivepointer]

Not exactly a thriller. The win will satisfy Exe but the performance was nothing to write home about. Simmonds didnt even get off the bench, maybe suggesting he is carrying a knock.
Glos look a little one dimensional, a bit too over reliant on their maul.

[Oakboy]

There's much to admire about Exeter picking up points when clearly going through a bad patch. How many of those starting at 4,5, 9 or 10 would get into any other team's starting XV, for example? Availability returns improve the second row but half-back issues remain. Presumably, Baxter is using Simmonds's fitness issue to boost Skinner's confidence but I can't see Exeter ruling the roost without strengthening the SH position. Cordero might have something to offer in attack but he seems not to like defending.

[Scrumhead]

Gloucester are an absolute mess - no-one running onto the ball, nobody reading each other's moves, and all their go-forward comes from individuals making something out of static ball. That said, they came very close to a result through sheer bloody-mindedness, and it should worry Exeter that they even got close.

Puja

I’m not sure who has more to be worried about TBH.

With a new halfback pairing and a cobbled together second row, Gloucester have a lot more excuses than Exeter.

Gloucester’s attack was like watching an amateur side. Lots of passes to static players meant they got very little go forward apart from the odd bit of magic from Carreras, but their defence was good IMO. Exeter weren’t getting too much change out of them.

I totally get that Exeter are missing a lot of players, but even when Sam Simmonds, LCD etc. were there, they’ve only really looked good against Worcester, which isn’t saying much.

[twitchy]

It's definitely a real test of baxter's management if he can come up with a new plan.