Exe vs Leicester saturday - 2pm

[Raggs]

The mauls I saw that lead to Exeter getting a foothold had multiple errors told by the ref, and whilst I'd disagree with one of the offenses each time, the other offence tended to be correct, so the pens were fair. Like one where he said in from the side, clearly through the middle, but also that the catcher from the lineout was taken early.

[switchskier]

Realusing once again why i seldom watch club rugby. Really struggling to pay attention.

Given this is effectively a pre-season game, a lot of ring-rustiness is to be expected. I wouldn't expect any of this opening round to be any good to anyone but purists.

Good early signs from the Borthwick regime. Showed a decent spine and togetherness, which hasn't always been the case. Thought we were very unlucky with the run of penalties in the second quarter - it felt like Foley had predecided that Exeter were going to win every maul and scrum and found a reason to ping - it took the wind right out of our sails. Mind, when it became clear that that was happening, we needed to back the hell off and stop giving him excuses!

Thought Ford, Reffell, Scott, and Olowofela turned in a good shift. Youngs wasn't bad either - the early tap and go was nice to see.

All things told, glad not to have been utterly dicked upon and promising signs for future improvements.

Puja

Unlucky 16 times in a row? Id think you were lucky to just have one yellow.

For a neutral, 33 pens, caterpillar rucks, loads of wasted time at the set piece, and pretty iffy skills made that a bit of a chore tbh

Maybe I'm just pleased to have rugby to watch but it wasn't that bad. Much better than last night. Some errors and fairly limited game plans but I never expected anything else.

Something needs to be done about caterpillar rucks though.

[Banquo]

Given this is effectively a pre-season game, a lot of ring-rustiness is to be expected. I wouldn't expect any of this opening round to be any good to anyone but purists.

Good early signs from the Borthwick regime. Showed a decent spine and togetherness, which hasn't always been the case. Thought we were very unlucky with the run of penalties in the second quarter - it felt like Foley had predecided that Exeter were going to win every maul and scrum and found a reason to ping - it took the wind right out of our sails. Mind, when it became clear that that was happening, we needed to back the hell off and stop giving him excuses!

Thought Ford, Reffell, Scott, and Olowofela turned in a good shift. Youngs wasn't bad either - the early tap and go was nice to see.

All things told, glad not to have been utterly dicked upon and promising signs for future improvements.

Puja

Unlucky 16 times in a row? Id think you were lucky to just have one yellow.

For a neutral, 33 pens, caterpillar rucks, loads of wasted time at the set piece, and pretty iffy skills made that a bit of a chore tbh

Maybe I'm just pleased to have rugby to watch but it wasn't that bad. Much better than last night. Some errors and fairly limited game plans but I never expected anything else.

Something needs to be done about caterpillar rucks though.

Clearly and a low bar. In fairness, I've found the Prem a difficult watch for a while- taking longer and longer at the set piece, said caterpillar, gobbing off at the ref, and painful skills sometimes.

[fivepointer]

Pens killed the game. A few harsh ones and a few dull ones but just far too many, which robbed the game of any kind of flow. Players will adapt you would hope.
Overall Exeter won that with quite a lot to spare. Gray instantly looked at home and LCD was very good. Maunder is reliable and efficient but without a breaking game isnt going to set any pulses racing.
Tigers showed a bit of tenacity but outside of Ford they looked very average.

[Banquo]

Pens killed the game. A few harsh ones and a few dull ones but just far too many, which robbed the game of any kind of flow. Players will adapt you would hope.
Overall Exeter won that with quite a lot to spare. Gray instantly looked at home and LCD was very good. Maunder is reliable and efficient but without a breaking game isnt going to set any pulses racing.
Tigers showed a bit of tenacity but outside of Ford they looked very average.

LCD was quality, but his darts still need attention

[Oakboy]

Pens killed the game. A few harsh ones and a few dull ones but just far too many, which robbed the game of any kind of flow. Players will adapt you would hope.
Overall Exeter won that with quite a lot to spare. Gray instantly looked at home and LCD was very good. Maunder is reliable and efficient but without a breaking game isnt going to set any pulses racing.
Tigers showed a bit of tenacity but outside of Ford they looked very average.

LCD was quality, but his darts still need attention

Agreed. One horror throw in each half! Of all the skills/drills, would that one be so hard to put right? I'd hate to see it cost him caps.

[Epaminondas Pules]

As a Tigers fan we were competitive in the pack for a while. Refell did very well early on and we disrupted their play. They went pragmatic and took complete control. Though we missed a huge number of tackles early on. First man missed countless times. Obviously trying to rush up. Our scrum was a real worry! Our bench did nothing really.

Our backline defence is horrific. Still! Truly horrific! It is all over the place even from first phases. There doesn’t seem to be any coherent plan to it.

Our backline with the ball is arguably even worse.

George Ford is a bloody good player.

[Tigersman]

As a Tigers fan we were competitive in the pack for a while. Refell did very well early on and we disrupted their play. They went pragmatic and took complete control. Though we missed a huge number of tackles early on. First man missed countless times. Obviously trying to rush up. Our scrum was a real worry! Our bench did nothing really.

Our backline defence is horrific. Still! Truly horrific! It is all over the place even from first phases. There doesn’t seem to be any coherent plan to it.

Our backline with the ball is arguably even worse.

George Ford is a bloody good player.

Not sure what you expected?
Had what 6 weeks together.
Of those 6 weeks 2 weeks at the start was limited rugby and fitness of like groups of 5.

How big of changes did you think would happen.

[Epaminondas Pules]

Had the same time as everyone else. A HUGE issue over the last few seasons has been defensive alignment and it was truly dreadful today. Another was needless penalties. And guess what. Same old same old. Penalty after penalty and nobody taking charge and altering what we were doing on the pitch.

I expected to lose. I was pleased with some effort. We were a nuisance at times.

It is hard to keep giving time. Yes there is, yet another, excuse to give time because it’s new players and coaches, and effectively new season rustiness, but to have not drilled the backline in simple alignment when it has been awful previously, is something that seriously concerns me. There were only two new backline players, one of which was a winger, so being new doesn’t really cut it. This is basic defence and knowing where to stand and what method of defence is being employed and when.

[Tigersman]

Had the same time as everyone else. A HUGE issue over the last few seasons has been defensive alignment and it was truly dreadful today. Another was needless penalties. And guess what. Same old same old. Penalty after penalty and nobody taking charge and altering what we were doing on the pitch.

I expected to lose. I was pleased with some effort. We were a nuisance at times.

It is hard to keep giving time. Yes there is, yet another, excuse to give time because it’s new players and coaches, and effectively new season rustiness, but to have not drilled the backline in simple alignment when it has been awful previously, is something that seriously concerns me. There were only two new backline players, one of which was a winger, so being new doesn’t really cut it. This is basic defence and knowing where to stand and what method of defence is being employed and when.

And who else improved in that time?
Every game was pretty meh.

Also unlike every other team in the league we had a New Head Coach, a new Attack coach and a new defence coach, playing against the league leaders.
You don't change a bottom league team in a month or so even when your missing most of your new players.

[Epaminondas Pules]

Did you see our defensive alignment?
Did it look like there was an actual plan to it? Any method? It is an obvious a work on as there is possible to have. And yet we had no clear defensive plan. There was a bit of rush (well some of the team), some drifting and some just standing watching.

I’d be ok if there was an obvious predominant method of defence and it wasn’t quite in sync. That is to be expected. But there wasn’t anything. Early on the forwards rushed, which sort of explains the number of first up tackles missed, and then no real plan after that. The backline was very disjointed and without clear defensive direction.

I’d expect to see at least the bones of a plan. Some semblance of there being a direction that the team is looking at.

There wasn’t.

I’m not expecting miracles. I’m just expecting some form a plan. Jeez we do it at U13 level in a couple of weeks in terms of basic outline. This is professional rugby.

[jngf]

Was very impressed with Ewers from watching highlights - he carries really strongly, has he ever been tried at 8?

[Mikey Brown]

I feel like he was playing there pretty regularly a few seasons back? Can’t recall if he was just covering injuries or Baxter had a different approach to what he wants at 8 back then.

He’s insanely powerful, but not sure he’s got the mobility, footballing skills, vision, hands etc. you’d want in a top 8. I don’t see why Exeter would move him back there.

He’s had his share of injuries too, but I think there will be a few players who are currently the most rested and injury-free they’ve been for a long time, so who knows.

He’s surely long missed his chance with England if that’s what you’re thinking.

[twitchy]

Agree with all of that. He is perfectly suited to exeter's system of playing eddie will have looked at him and already passed.

[Banquo]

I feel like he was playing there pretty regularly a few seasons back? Can’t recall if he was just covering injuries or Baxter had a different approach to what he wants at 8 back then.

He’s insanely powerful, but not sure he’s got the mobility, footballing skills, vision, hands etc. you’d want in a top 8. I don’t see why Exeter would move him back there.

He’s had his share of injuries too, but I think there will be a few players who are currently the most rested and injury-free they’ve been for a long time, so who knows.

He’s surely long missed his chance with England if that’s what you’re thinking.

Not sure he can have played much there, given Tommy the Tank was fairly regular, and I don't think he has the handling skills or decision making frankly, as you said. He is listed as an 8 in wiki though so likely my memory is faulty.

[Banquo]

Agree with all of that. He is perfectly suited to exeter's system of playing eddie will have looked at him and already passed.

He was in Eddie's 2016 squad, so he had a close look. As he has done many players that he is said to have overlooked.

[Puja]

Was very impressed with Ewers from watching highlights - he carries really strongly, has he ever been tried at 8?

He was 8 when he first broke through for Exeter and I agree with you that it'd be his position for any side that wasn't Exeter. However, they tend to put weight on the flanks and put their fast player - Salvi, Kvesic, Simmonds - in at 8.

Puja

[Banquo]

Was very impressed with Ewers from watching highlights - he carries really strongly, has he ever been tried at 8?

He was 8 when he first broke through for Exeter and I agree with you that it'd be his position for any side that wasn't Exeter. However, they tend to put weight on the flanks and put their fast player - Salvi, Kvesic, Simmonds - in at 8.

Puja

Really? I don't think he has the hands or decision making tbh. Please explain Thomas Waldron - though admittedly he didn't play much from 2017 onwards when Simmonds appeared. Not sure Salvi played 8 much, but I could be wrong.

[Scrumhead]

Actually I think their system changed immediately after Waldrom left when Baxter was looking to accommodate a combination of Ewers, Armand and Simmonds. It worked well enough for him to want to stick with it for Kvesic and Hinkley has spoken about training at 8 recently. I’m almost surprised no-one else has copied it.

I’d question whether Ewers has the ‘hands or decision making’ to be a top quality 8, but I think he’d be fine at Premiership level.

[Banquo]

Actually I think their system changed immediately after Waldrom left when Baxter was looking to accommodate a combination of Ewers, Armand and Simmonds. It worked well enough for him to want to stick with it for Kvesic and Hinkley has spoken about training at 8 recently. I’m almost surprised no-one else has copied it.

I’d question whether Ewers has the ‘hands or decision making’ to be a top quality 8, but I think he’d be fine at Premiership level.

Which was the point.

And to the point on Simmonds, Waldrom appeared less in his final season than previously, and Simmonds more, so it might have been a transition thing.

[Scrumhead]

And this all came from jngf watching the highlights again ...

[jngf]

And this all came from jngf watching the highlights again ...

So Scrumhead given COVID-19 the alternative being what exactly?

[Gloskarlos]

Watch the entirety of several matches? Get a full view?

[Raggs]

Premiership rugby uploads the full matches generally by Tuesday here: https://www.premiershiprugby.com/prtv/

[jngf]

Premiership rugby uploads the full matches generally by Tuesday here: https://www.premiershiprugby.com/prtv/

Thanks very kindly, very useful site - that said, feel that even if I undertook a 100 day premiership binge watch, Scrumhead would argue the opposite point of view to me - such is the beauty of debate