Exe vs Bris, Sandy Park, Sat Jan 8th 16.30

[jimKRFC]

Bristol:
15. Charles Piutau; 14. Luke Morahan, 13. Semi Radradra, 12. Piers O’Conor, 11. Siva Naulago; 10. Callum Sheedy, 9. Harry Randall; 1. Jake Woolmore, 2. Bryan Byrne, 3. Kyle Sinckler, 4. Dave Attwood, 5. Joe Joyce, 6. Steven Luatua (c), 7. Ben Earl, 8. Nathan Hughes.

Subs: 16. Will Capon, 17. Yann Thomas, 18. John Afoa, 19. James Dun, 20. Dan Thomas, 21. Andy Uren, 22. Ioan Lloyd, 23. Alapati Leiua.

Unavailable: Harry Thacker, Max Lahiff, Ed Holmes, Chris Vui, Jake Heenan, Chris Cook, Sam Bedlow, Siale Piutau, Henry Purdy, Max Malin

Exeter:
15 Jack Walsh, 14 Olly Woodburn, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Ollie Devoto, 11 Ian Whitten, 10 Joe Simmonds MBE (capt), 9 Sam Hidalgo-Clyne
1 Alec Hepburn, 2 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 3 Harry Williams, 4 Will Witty, 5 Jonny Hill, 6 Dave Ewers, 7 Don Armand, 8 Sam Simmonds

Subs: 16 Jack Yeandle, 17 James Kenny, 18 Tomas Francis, 19 Tom Price, 20 Sam Skinner, 21 Sam Maunder, 22 Corey Baldwin, 23 James Short

Both look to have gone as strong as they can. Exeter must be favourites but the last three games have all been pretty close so should be a good game. Bristol definetly need to be switched on from the start though.

[jimKRFC]

Match Officials

Referee: Karl Dickson

Assistant Rob Warburton
Referees. Jonathon Healy

TMO. David Rose

[TheNomad]

I'd have hoped that Josh Hodge and Corey Baldwin would have seen more game time with Chiefs - maybe unrealistic on my part

[FKAS]

I'd have hoped that Josh Hodge and Corey Baldwin would have seen more game time with Chiefs - maybe unrealistic on my part

We've not seen much from Hinckley either. They might just be taking time to adjust to the Chiefs way of doing things and to Baxter's standards. Chiefs are normally good at bringing through talent but they have a very structured game plan. Baldwin and Hendrickson have the makings of a very good and very direct back up centre combination in future seasons.

To be fair last time out Hodge looked lethal when running ball in hand but knocked on twice when placing the ball after contact which won't have impressed Baxter. He's also built like a twiglet if he fills out a bit more like Steward he could become an excellent winger but he didn't exactly exude confidence at the back albeit in a brief appearance off the bench.

[Mellsblue]

Dickson is not messing around!!!!

[Puja]

Dickson is not messing around!!!!

Necessary decision. Notably, the scrums have become a lot better during those 10 minutes!

Puja

[FKAS]

Sinckler should be cited for the bad language. Screaming at the ref should have been minimum yellow.

[FKAS]

Wow Sam Simmonds is even faster than we thought. Randall is no slouch.

[Mellsblue]

Those hands! #GoldingtonRdFinishingSchool.

[Mellsblue]

Comedy gold from Hepburn.

[fivepointer]

Better side won. Big win for Bris and a sign of just how much they are developing. Exe never really got going, but that was due to Bris shutting them down very effectively.
Randall again quite outstanding.

[Puja]

Randall's going to be in a 6N squad. I really hope it's ours, but I have a suspicion that Eddie will ignore him and Wales will snap him up.

Puja

[fivepointer]

For the past few months Randall has been streets ahead of every other English SH. Its not even close.

Of course Jones wont pick him.

[Puja]

For the past few months Randall has been streets ahead of every other English SH. Its not even close.

Of course Jones wont pick him.

Unpopular opinion time: I'd actually say Ben Youngs has been better this season. Randall still has some rough edges in his game management and accuracy, and the board's favourite scrum-half has been very good of late.

I'd still want Randall in the 21 shirt, mind.

Puja

[Scrumhead]

Randall's going to be in a 6N squad. I really hope it's ours, but I have a suspicion that Eddie will ignore him and Wales will snap him up.

Puja

I’m not sure. He’s on record as saying he considers himself to be English and Wales have several scrum halves.

I’m surprised at how poor Exeter have been in the last couple of rounds. Really uncharacteristic.

[Puja]

Randall's going to be in a 6N squad. I really hope it's ours, but I have a suspicion that Eddie will ignore him and Wales will snap him up.

Puja

I’m not sure. He’s on record as saying he considers himself to be English and Wales have several scrum halves.

I’m surprised at how poor Exeter have been in the last couple of rounds. Really uncharacteristic.

Hope you're right. But I've heard several Welsh fans complaining about their scrum-halves not being in brilliant form and Randall's play is exactly what Pivac likes. Plus, they don't have to be picking him as their first choice to expand their player pool - just have him in the squad and bench him against Italy.

He might consider himself English, but how strong that feeling will be if Wales show interest and Eddie shows absolutely none? Difficult to predict.

Puja

[TheNomad]

Tompkins didn’t even know he could be welsh and still now plays for them

If they don’t see a route to international rugby with England, players will choose alternatives. It’s very clear

Needs to be (rightly) brought into the fold or his head will be turned soon enough

[twitchy]

As has been said, Bristol were the better team. I'm not sure what to think as an exe fan. Two losses but definitely the two other strongest teams in the league.

Something of note is how easily the maul was nullified. I couldn't tell if that is it being "found out" (as I see some on twitter saying) or just bad execution.

[Mellsblue]

In Attwood and Launchbury, Exe have been up against two of the best defensive maul operators in the business. Probably not as simple* as that but it should be taken in to account.

*no knowledge of a maul other than standing a few metres away wondering if I’d ever get my hands on the ball.

[Raggs]

Good body position can make a huge difference, and that's a team effort. Not getting rolled out too is important. Really irritates me when I see locks join mauls far too upright, or worse, tightheads acting as guard on a maul, whilst there's a backrow involved.

[Gloskarlos]

I noticed particularly on Bristol’s throw in that players not involved in lifting had adopted the shove position as soon as the ball was thrown. Never seen that before, but small margins of getting into position that fraction earlier and not allowing the other team to react due to the pressure I think is one of the reasons.

[Digby]

Brizzle make a big thing of betting their plays are going to work and often move early, and they do seem to be adding to the detail of who moves when. They're taking lots of little advantages, providing their players come off, else one can argue they're often only opening themselves up

[Doorzetbornandbred]

In Attwood and Launchbury, Exe have been up against two of the best defensive maul operators in the business. Probably not as simple* as that but it should be taken in to account.

*no knowledge of a maul other than standing a few metres away wondering if I’d ever get my hands on the ball.

Attwood was immense yesterday in all facets of the game. Some of the hits he was putting in defence were obscene, often stopping the Chiefs player in their tracks and sending them backwards.

[FKAS]

In Attwood and Launchbury, Exe have been up against two of the best defensive maul operators in the business. Probably not as simple* as that but it should be taken in to account.

*no knowledge of a maul other than standing a few metres away wondering if I’d ever get my hands on the ball.

Attwood was immense yesterday in all facets of the game. Some of the hits he was putting in defence were obscene, often stopping the Chiefs player in their tracks and sending them backwards.

Agreed. He was colossal is the tight exchanges. He rolled back the years for that game.

[jimKRFC]

Enjoyed that!
Pat, and the coaches, had the team spot on physically and mentally. Attwood was huge, he has been the last few games as well, but he and Joyce go through a ton of work. Randell grabbed headlines again but Hughes is key for us at the moment in driving forward.

Most pleasing is that the side had 6 Bristolians in it (last weeks had 7) so the young players are starting to come though.

We're also looking ok for the 6Ns, we'll lose Malins and Sheedy, but let us run Lloyd at 10 with CP at 15.

Final point - very odd looking down the table rather than up!