Tied House Criminal Cup - Exeter Vs Racing

[Shiny]

Is Simmons the new ice man?

[Mr Mwenda]

Although i could do without the slapstick.

[Scrumhead]

Ok, now we can start demanding Exeter develop their game. Baxter has made his point.

Absolutely. They’ve shown a bit more ambition in other games, but today’s game was literally stereotypical pick-and-go Exeter.

[twitchy]

I don't have any nails left.

[Mellsblue]

Pleased for Exeter, but I must admit to having a strong preference for the way Racing play.

This

Thirded. I did find myself pulling for Racing for the final 20 mins.

[Mikey Brown]

Is Simmons the new ice man?

Ha. They cannot hide how much they want to get out of this interview and drink.

[paddy no 11]

Ridiculous for racing to lose that but the half backs gave 2 fingers to the rest of the team

[twitchy]

[Mikey Brown]

"The cream of Devon"? Are you fucking serious? I hope he get's fired for that.

[Spiffy]

Fair play to Exeter. They defended like demons when Racing were camped on the line for an extended period around the 70 min mark. Questionable (but brave) decision by Racing to kick into the corner after the Francis yellow card instead of going for posts. A three point penalty would have won the game for them. They will regret their very sloppy start. Far from vintage rugby but edge of the seat stuff.

[fivepointer]

Exe far from their best and having to rely on some madcap Racing play to get them home. They wont mind one bit.
Great fun for the neutral. The purists may not have enjoyed it much.
Exe well served by the Simmonds brothers and Nowell but really this wasnt about performance, either personal or team. It was about crossing the line, which Exe just managed to do.

[Scrumhead]

Yeah. Fair play to Rob Baxter for acknowledging that Exeter weren’t at their best too. Even if I don’t enjoy watching Exeter that much, he does come across as a very likeable bloke.

[francoisfou]

Fair play to Exeter. They defended like demons when Racing were camped on the line for an extended period around the 70 min mark. Questionable (but brave) decision by Racing to kick into the corner after the Francis yellow card instead of going for posts. A three point penalty would have won the game for them. They will regret their very sloppy start. Far from vintage rugby but edge of the seat stuff.

Yeah, on hindsight, should've gone for the three points.
Finn Russell won't sleep well tonight after a couple of daft mistakes, and a shame he chose this match to have a bad 'un.

[Scrumhead]

I imagine they felt pretty confident they could score from the lineout with the advantage of the extra man, but in a game that tight, they should have taken a relatively easy 3 points knowing they’d be playing against 14 men chasing the game.

[Mr Mwenda]

Forwards always forget the outside when they know they're against seven in the pack. It's something about their education.

[twitchy]

I see a lot of french fans really angry about the end. Saying that nige screwed them. I was watching the time like a hawk. They couldn't immediately change the clock to take the 5 seconds he wanted docked. Then he just started play without saying "time on" and it ended up costing exe way more time so simmonds took the kick thinking time was off.

I'm not sure but I don't think the racing players were angry. Totally bizarre end though.

[Scrumhead]

Weird ending but ‘screwed’? Really? That’s highly optimistic.

So let’s say they kick off again ... the clock would have immediately gone in to the red so they’d have to have got the ball back on their own restart before they could even get close to scoring any points. Not impossible but considering they hadn’t managed that at any other point in the game, the more likely scenario would have been that they kick off, Exeter collect it as they did with all the other restarts and then kick it off the pitch to win.

Owens can cop some flak for the way he handled it, but he definitely did not screw them out of a genuine shot at winning.

[Puja]

Weird ending but ‘screwed’? Really? That’s highly optimistic.

So let’s say they kick off again ... the clock would have immediately gone in to the red so they’d have to have got the ball back on their own restart before they could even get close to scoring any points. Not impossible but considering they hadn’t managed that at any other point in the game, the more likely scenario would have been that they kick off, Exeter collect it as they did with all the other restarts and then kick it off the pitch to win.

Owens can cop some flak for the way he handled it, but he definitely did not screw them out of a genuine shot at winning.

Agreed. I can't see how anyone watched that game and came to the conclusion that Nige screwed anyone in particular - he made a wide variety of terrible decisions, affecting both sides. Occasionally he wanted people to roll away, occasionally he didn't. Sometimes you had to be lifting the ball, sometimes you just needed a hand on it, sometimes you could've been clamped over it for as long as you liked and he wouldn't've given you the turnover. The law on taking out the 9 didn't seem to be enforced at any point and I lost count of the number of times he shouted, "Hands away! Leave it! Not on the ball! ...Fair turnover, play on!" Very far from his best match.

Puja

[Oakboy]

Exe far from their best and having to rely on some madcap Racing play to get them home. They wont mind one bit.
Great fun for the neutral. The purists may not have enjoyed it much.
Exe well served by the Simmonds brothers and Nowell but really this wasnt about performance, either personal or team. It was about crossing the line, which Exe just managed to do.

This. A win is a win. The only time I thought Racing would win was after the yelliw card. The commentators got carried away after the first two scores but nobody else did. Exeter controlled crucial parts of the game to grab a win. That was a worthy achievement. Hill was MoM.

[Doorzetbornandbred]

Ive just watched it back and its a good thing Owens is retiring. He was appalling, if he set his stool out from the start the game would've been far more open. Too much off feet etc etc. He was poor from both sides of the coin toss but that shouldn't be the case in a game like this. As a neutral it will be interesting to see how Baxter develops Exeter if he can. Im not convinced he can tbh, the game is moving on at a rapid pace. I'll hold my hands up now and admit I'm not Chiefs biggest fan but I cant help bit think to go to the next level Chiefs may need a new head coach to move things on.

[Scrumhead]

Rob Baxter has just led a team to win the biggest prize in European club rugby and is probably odds on to take them to the double. I wouldn’t imagine they’re thinking of making a change. In any case, Baxter is DoR these days and it’s actually Ali Hepher who is head coach.

With that being said, I think I kind of know where you’re coming from in terms of evolving their style. In a way, I’m kind of sad for rugby that they were able to take the ugly, unimaginative, pick-and-go grind all the way to being European champions.

When they weren’t successful in Europe in the past, I always felt that it was because their game plan was too limited. Today proved me wrong, but not in a good way really ...

To be completely fair, they do offer more in the Premiership and I think Joe Simmonds growing in to his role as captain may help to evolve their style as I feel like a lot of their style was based upon how to succeed with Steenson running the show at 10. Simmonds has more of a running game and is a more inventive 10. If he gets more freedom, there’s plenty of talent outside him to make them far more interesting to watch.

[Timbo]

I'll hold my hands up now and admit I'm not Chiefs biggest fan but I cant help bit think to go to the next level Chiefs may need a new head coach to move things on.

What’s the ‘next level’, Champions of the Universe?

[Timbo]

Pleased for Exeter, but I must admit to having a strong preference for the way Racing play.

Can’t say I have much time for Racing’s style personally. Very little organisation, structure, patience or discipline. They basically operate in attack to Finn Russell’s whims and individual talent.

[Puja]

On a completely unrelated note to the current conversation, I've worked out what it is about O'Flaherty's play that bothers me. He's got a lot of attributes that make him look like he could kick on to become a really good player - he's fast, evasive, picks good lines, has pretty good skills, is a regular source of linebreaks. However, you know how we say that some players always look like they've got time on the ball, that they've got a real ease and composure and look like they've got so much time to make decisions, even when they're under pressure? Well, he's the antithesis of that. No matter how much or little pressure there is, he continually receives the ball or play coming towards him with a panicked air of, "Oh sh*t, that's my job, isn't it?!"

He definitely has the skills and the raw materials, but he just seems to look like he's got far less time than he has. He's like the anti-Dan Carter.

Puja

[Beasties]

Lots of comedy out there yesterday, topped off nicely by the timeclock farce. Maybe RR should have an inaugural end of season comedy awards? I was thoroughly entertained as a neutral, can't complain about that when most finals are dreadful affairs. Well done to Exeter though for getting over the line after several squeeky bum moments. Happy hangovers lads.