Newcastle v Exeter Sunday 3pm

[fivepointer]

Newcastle: 15 Mike Brown, 14 Tom Penny, 13 George Wacokecoke, 12 Matias Orlando, 11 Nathan Earle, 10 Will Haydon-Wood, 9 Cameron Nordli-Kelemeti, 8 Callum Chick, 7 Connor Collett, 6 Will Welch (c), 5 Sean Robinson, 4 Greg Peterson, 3 Trevor Davison, 2 George McGuigan, 1 Adam Brocklebank
Replacements: 16 Jamie Blamire, 17 Conrad Cade, 18 Mark Tampin, 19 Rob Farrar, 20 Josh Basham, 21 Joel Hodgson, 22 Luther Burrell, 23 Adam Radwan

Exeter: 15 Josh Hodge, 14 Olly Woodburn, 13 Ian Whitten, 12 Tom Hendrickson, 11 Tom O’Flaherty, 10 Joe Simmonds (c), 9 Sam Maunder, 8 Richard Capstick, 7 Don Armand, 6 Sam Skinner, 5 Dafydd Jenkins, 4 Jannes Kirsten, 3 Patrick Schickerling, 2 Jack Innard, 1 Alec Hepburn
Replacements: 16 Jack Yeandle, 17 Billy Keast, 18 Marcus Street, 19 Lewis Pearson, 20 Santiago Grondona, 21 Jack Maunder, 22 Harvey Skinner, 23 Facundo Cordero

[Oakboy]

Sam Skinner playing 6 days before Scotland's match with France. If that's right it makes a total mockery of the rest weeks which piss me off anyway.

[Scrumhead]

Only if he plays vs. France though? If he’s not picked, he might as well play for Chiefs.

[Oakboy]

Only if he plays vs. France though? If he’s not picked, he might as well play for Chiefs.

True but he started at 6 in the last match in place of someone injured (Ritchie?). Depends on that guy's recovery, I suppose. I really hate premiership games being played during international breaks and the gap weeks in the 6N. It all smacks of mistaken priorities. You don't get gap weeks in the RWC!

[Mikey Brown]

He’s absolutely going to play. Surprised Hogg isn’t in too. Baxter historically doesn’t give a shit about letting them have these weeks off, but maybe Skinner wants to play for all I know.

[Mellsblue]

More brave sartorial choices from Woodman.

[twitchy]

To be fair he can pull off looks that others can't.

[Mellsblue]

This is true, and the least I could do in honour of his bravery is get his name right.

[twitchy]

I knew who you meant because I was thinking the same thing.

[Mellsblue]

Ha! Not sure Trevor Woodman would get away with it.

[Mellsblue]

Feel sorry for Chick but def a red. Feel even more sorry for Hodge but def a HIA.

[FKAS]

This looks sadly inevitable after the Chick red card. It was the right call but Falcons were only just holding on before the red.

[twitchy]

Exe have made so many mistakes.

[Mellsblue]

I like the look of Hayden-Wood. There are flashes of real quality you can tell he understands/has a feel for the game.

[Mellsblue]

Ridley desperate to not make a decision at this scrum.

[FKAS]

I like the look of Hayden-Wood. There are flashes of real quality you can tell he understands/has a feel for the game.

Has some pace and footwork doesn't he. Bit raw but definitely has the makings of a quality 10.

[Puja]

Why did Nordli Kelemeti go off? The winning penalty was solely because of Hodgson fucking up the feed so the hooker couldn't strike, an issue that just would not have happened with a full-time scrum-half.

Puja

[Oakboy]

I've not seen enough of Newcastle to argue against the commentary team's two implications: that McGuigan and Robinson ought to get more notice. The former better than Blamire?? The latter unlucky to not get another call having missed out with injury on the summer tour??

[FKAS]

I've not seen enough of Newcastle to argue against the commentary team's two implications: that McGuigan and Robinson ought to get more notice. The former better than Blamire?? The latter unlucky to not get another call having missed out with injury on the summer tour??

Robinson is a very good lock, very underrated. He's particularly excellent at the lineout; jumping, calling and maul defence. At 30 age may count against him.

Puja, yes the scrum half change was very odd if it wasn't injury motivated. Deano has apparently blamed the ref so it's all Sir's fault. I suspect Deano will need to bring some high quality biscuits to the disciplinary meeting to avoid a ban.

[Oakboy]

There must be a query over protocol where Hodge is concerned. Surely a HIA should have occurred after his head's collision with Chick's shoulder. I agree with Richards and Baxter that a yellow card would have been better for the game but I thought a red card was definitely the right decision according to the guidelines.

[FKAS]

There must be a query over protocol where Hodge is concerned. Surely a HIA should have occurred after his head's collision with Chick's shoulder. I agree with Richards and Baxter that a yellow card would have been better for the game but I thought a red card was definitely the right decision according to the guidelines.

I'm not a big fan of the independent team forcing the player to go for a HIA if the club medics don't act. The club's medics should have taken him off immediately it was clear he'd just taken a shoulder to the face, I still fear too much of the decision is reliant on the player going "nah I'm fine".

[Puja]

There must be a query over protocol where Hodge is concerned. Surely a HIA should have occurred after his head's collision with Chick's shoulder. I agree with Richards and Baxter that a yellow card would have been better for the game but I thought a red card was definitely the right decision according to the guidelines.

Abso-fucking-lutely. The whole point of the HIA is that YOU CANNOT TELL IF SOMEONE'S CONCUSSED BY JUST LOOKING AT THEM ON THE PITCH. So why are they reverting to, "He doesn't seem dazed, I'm sure he's fine," when he's just been hit in the face by a tackle that made all the commentary team go, "Oooooooh."

Puja

[fivepointer]

I've not seen enough of Newcastle to argue against the commentary team's two implications: that McGuigan and Robinson ought to get more notice. The former better than Blamire?? The latter unlucky to not get another call having missed out with injury on the summer tour??

McGuigan is the best hooker at Newcastle. He's smaller and older than Blamire but always starts ahead of him.

Robinson is simply one of the best locks in the Premiership. Unlucky not to get capped last summer.

The red card was pretty straightforward. Deano should have accepted it and suggesting the officials showed favouritism isnt going to sit well. A couple of scrum calls seemed to go the wrong way but thats just refs guessing to a degree. It was a dogged effort from Newcastle with 14 men. Hope they stick with the young half backs and i'd like to see Basham get more opportunities. They've nothing to play for this season, so trying to get some game time into younger players should be a priority.

[Mikey Brown]

Yeah he sounded incredibly bitter at the end and the ref was all he wanted to talk about. I understand it’s frustrating but he must get that it’s not going to help in any way?

[Banquo]

Yeah he sounded incredibly bitter at the end and the ref was all he wanted to talk about. I understand it’s frustrating but he must get that it’s not going to help in any way?

He tried to shuffle the comments onto the players, but the mask slipped at the end.