Quins vs Exeter - Friday - 7.45

[twitchy]

[Scrumhead]

Pleased to see Ibitoye back and Dombrandt getting an extended run.

Horwill’s continued absence is a worry though. I wouldn’t be greatly surprised to hear he’s retiring. Same with Buchanan.

[twitchy]

Yeah that's a good looking quins team. Back row could be useful given time.

[fivepointer]

Well done Exe for resting their international players. Bold move but the right one to my mind.

Sinckler could have done with a break.

[Stom]

Yeah that's a good looking quins team. Back row could be useful given time.

It's an extremely big backrow, though, without much subtlety. No one to jackal. Just Ward, sigh.

[Renniks]

Why do Exeter line up with Kvesic at 8 and Armand / Ewers on the flanks?

Surely one of those two would be better running from base of the scrum…

[Scrumhead]

Yeah that's a good looking quins team. Back row could be useful given time.

It's an extremely big backrow, though, without much subtlety. No one to jackal. Just Ward, sigh.

None of them are great jackals but all three are reasonable breakdown operators and Ward will also get involved as you’ve said. While Kvesic is obviously very good, I wouldn’t say Armand or Ewers as notably better than our guys when it comes to jackalling.

We’ll see pretty soon ... I could see us winning this, but as always with Quins, it’s a bit of a lottery.

[Raggs]

Not sure it's worth having a jackal against Exeter to be honest. They're brutal in their clearouts and rarely pinged for going off their feet. Jackals don't have much of a chance. Big hitting tackles, attempting to dislodge the ball and kill the gainline seems smart.

[Mikey Brown]

Pleased to see Ibitoye back and Dombrandt getting an extended run.

Horwill’s continued absence is a worry though. I wouldn’t be greatly surprised to hear he’s retiring. Same with Buchanan.

Good side but yes, I agree. He was on the bench last week right? And now out again? I think he’s only had 1 or 2 starts this season hasn’t he?

[Scrumhead]

Not sure it's worth having a jackal against Exeter to be honest. They're brutal in their clearouts and rarely pinged for going off their feet. Jackals don't have much of a chance. Big hitting tackles, attempting to dislodge the ball and kill the gainline seems smart.

Fair point. It wouldn’t surprise me if that’s what PG has in mind.

[Which Tyler]

Why do Exeter line up with Kvesic at 8 and Armand / Ewers on the flanks?

Surely one of those two would be better running from base of the scrum…

Same reason they go with Sam Simmonds at 8...
I think he just prefers the balance of big | little | big

[Scrumhead]

Enjoying this so far. Those missed points from Lang might end up costing us though ...

[Scrumhead]

You just know Chiefs will score from here. Rubbish from Lang.

[Scrumhead]

Looks like I’m talking to myself, but lovely finish from Earle there

[padprop]

For those that would want Clifford back in the england squad, judging on this performance id rather have Dombrandt or chisholm, with him being the pick of the bunch

[Scrumhead]

Bloody hell ... so obvious ...

[twitchy]

Well done quins, deserved winners. I'd still back baxter's decision to rest the england contingent. Playing the long game.

[Scrumhead]

Very happy with that. No chance we’d get a BP win over Chiefs at full strength, but you can only play what’s in front of you and I though we fully deserved that.

Dombrandt and Chis were excellent and Brown looked very good. Murley made a real impact when he came on too.

[Timbo]

Eddie, we need to talk about Alex Dombrandt!

Good game. Quins look like they’re getting somewhere under Gustard. That said, I haven’t seen Exeter have such poor ball security in the carry and lack of accuracy at the breakdown.

[Scrumhead]

The comments re. Dombrandt post game were interesting though ... the not so subtle hints were that he has masses of talent but has a fair way to go on S&C. The footage of him dancing in the champagne was more than a bit embarrassing. Some jelly on display for sure.

[Mikey Brown]

He’s a big old boy isn’t he.

Of course this was a game that I decided to give a miss, but it’s nice to actually look forward to catching the highlights.

Not surprised at all to read Clifford being the weakest of the backrow. He’s barely played in a year or more. Dombrandt is talented and keen to make an impression and Chisholm has been in banging form for a while now.

Wilson as an 8 was a very pleasant surprise but I’d certainly have picked Chisholm ahead of him at 8 before the AIs.

What’s this Murley guy about?

[Timbo]

Also, if Mike Brown keeps playing like tonight he’ll be back in the England 15 shirt quick sharp. He lost his place on merit, and he hasn’t played really well for England since the Argentina tour, but if he gets back to his best he’s still a bloody good fullback.

[twitchy]

Also, if Mike Brown keeps playing like tonight he’ll be back in the England 15 shirt quick sharp. He lost his place on merit, and he hasn’t played really well for England since the Argentina tour, but if he gets back to his best he’s still a bloody good fullback.

I think he was always nailed on for the 15 shirt with the england revert to type and watson out long term.

[Scrumhead]

Brown was very good.

Clifford May have been the least eye-catching of the Quins back row tonight but he still played very well and worked incredibly hard. All three of them had good games.

[Puja]

What’s this Murley guy about?

I'm starting to become a fan of his. Rapid, good acceleration, picks good lines, likes an offload out the tackle, good defence.

Most impressive was a moment when Quins had been attacking for a few phases and had been knocked back by a loose ball. Very, very slow ruck ball and everyone's resetting. Murley backs up about 15-20m and then absolutely sprints on a hard line off Care - the pace he was going when he caught the ball and the fact that he targetted the gap between two defenders means he made 7-8m against a stationary and set defence with slow ball. Recycled quick and Quins were on the attack.

It wasn't a called play - Murley looked up and realised that they were going backwards and took it upon himself to sprint in on a15m runup on a hard carry to restart the momentum. Big call for a 19 year old and I've seen much bigger men wuss out at carrying that fast into contact (mentioning no Fred Tuilagi Jnrs).

Puja