RugbyRebels

Exeter: Hogg; Woodburn, Whitten, Hendrickson, O'Flaherty; J Simmonds, J Maunder; Hepburn, Yeandle (capt), Street, Kirsten, S Skinner, Ewers, Vermeulen, Capstick.

Replacements: Innard, Kenny, Williams, Witty, Grondona, S Maunder, H Skinner Cordero

Sale: S James; Roebuck, R du Preez, van Rensburg, Reed; MacGinty, Quirke; Rodd, Ashman, Oosthuizen, Wiese, de Jager, JL du Preez, Ross (capt), D du Preez

Replacements: Langdon, McIntyre, Jones, JP du Preez, B Curry, de Klerk, L James, McGuigan

Pretty monstrous Sale back row. Won't be much subtlety being deployed there.

32nd Man wrote:Pretty monstrous Sale back row. Won't be much subtlety being deployed there.

Must be one of the most saffer teams fielded in the prem I'd think as well

Start for street.

Banquo wrote:

32nd Man wrote:Pretty monstrous Sale back row. Won't be much subtlety being deployed there.

Must be one of the most saffer teams fielded in the prem I'd think as well

...but also 11 Academy Lads in the match day 23

Street hasn’t really kicked on as expected/hoped. TBH, I think Schickerling would have been picked had he not picked up a knock last week.

Spartan Shark wrote:

Banquo wrote:

32nd Man wrote:Pretty monstrous Sale back row. Won't be much subtlety being deployed there.

Must be one of the most saffer teams fielded in the prem I'd think as well

...but also 11 Academy Lads in the match day 23

Following the Sarries method for regeneration. Focus on recruiting a big horrible pack and then bring through the talent in an environment of strength where they can play on the front foot. Sale will probably skip the cheating on the salary cap bit that came later though.

Being in a position to keep their best talent, and Sale have never struggled to generate it, they should be in a good place moving forwards.

Spartan Shark wrote:

Banquo wrote:

32nd Man wrote:Pretty monstrous Sale back row. Won't be much subtlety being deployed there.

Must be one of the most saffer teams fielded in the prem I'd think as well

...but also 11 Academy Lads in the match day 23

fair dinkum

FKAS wrote:

Spartan Shark wrote:

Banquo wrote: Must be one of the most saffer teams fielded in the prem I'd think as well

...but also 11 Academy Lads in the match day 23

Following the Sarries method for regeneration. Focus on recruiting a big horrible pack and then bring through the talent in an environment of strength where they can play on the front foot. Sale will probably skip the cheating on the salary cap bit that came later though.

Being in a position to keep their best talent, and Sale have never struggled to generate it, they should be in a good place moving forwards.

.....though Sale also have recruited Manu and Ford. Tigers model not dissimilar tho not as pronounced.

Banquo wrote:

FKAS wrote:

Spartan Shark wrote:
...but also 11 Academy Lads in the match day 23

Following the Sarries method for regeneration. Focus on recruiting a big horrible pack and then bring through the talent in an environment of strength where they can play on the front foot. Sale will probably skip the cheating on the salary cap bit that came later though.

Being in a position to keep their best talent, and Sale have never struggled to generate it, they should be in a good place moving forwards.

.....though Sale also have recruited Manu and Ford. Tigers model not dissimilar tho not as pronounced.

Yeah a few teams have followed the initial steps and then adjusted. Sale have opted for a fairly small squad but with some high profile talent. Ford the latest acquisition.

Tigers have gone more moneyball and targeted players towards the end of their career and age grade players that aren't in a Premiership academy to generate squad depth and less reliance on individuals.

Both teams started with the big Bok base and academy promotions.

Sale could start next season with a backline of Quirke Ford, Reed, Tuilagi, S James, Roebuck, L James, so the approach isn't necessarily detrimental to development of young English talent. Especially if the players you bring in are of the level of Faf, Lood and the Du Preez squad.

32nd Man wrote:Sale could start next season with a backline of Quirke Ford, Reed, Tuilagi, S James, Roebuck, L James, so the approach isn't necessarily detrimental to development of young English talent. Especially if the players you bring in are of the level of Faf, Lood and the Du Preez squad.

Aye, no problem with high quality players helping sides become competitive and bringing through young talent. The problem is mediocre players (eqp or overseas) in teams in stasis blocking younger players, as the DOR wants to keep his job

Banquo wrote:

32nd Man wrote:Sale could start next season with a backline of Quirke Ford, Reed, Tuilagi, S James, Roebuck, L James, so the approach isn't necessarily detrimental to development of young English talent. Especially if the players you bring in are of the level of Faf, Lood and the Du Preez squad.

Aye, no problem with high quality players helping sides become competitive and bringing through young talent. The problem is mediocre players (eqp or overseas) in teams in stasis blocking younger players, as the DOR wants to keep his job

Under the Saracens style rebuild the academy is built upon with the young guys brought through. Sarries generated some very good homegrown talent, Sale, Glaws and Tigers have as well following the same model.

Scrumhead wrote:Street hasn’t really kicked on as expected/hoped. TBH, I think Schickerling would have been picked had he not picked up a knock last week.

Only just come back long term injury. Neck I believe. This is only his 3rd game since last seasons Prem final.

Great opener from exe.

Quirke injured?

p/d wrote:Quirke injured?

Failed HIA.

Kirsten and Vermuelen are beasts for Exeter. Both qualify for England this summer….

That they are. Not a bad return to action for Vermuelen

Timbo wrote:Kirsten and Vermuelen are beasts for Exeter. Both qualify for England this summer….

While I don't particularly want them (out of not wanting to pick players that aren't English, not because of quality), are they actually qualified? I think both of them have played U20s vs France back when that captured you for South Africa and the "you can represent a second nation" amendment specifically excludes representing a second nation that you only qualify for under residency.

Reserve the right to be wrong on the U20s thing - I can't remember the exact dates that various U20s sides screwed around with capturing.

Puja

Puja wrote:

Timbo wrote:Kirsten and Vermuelen are beasts for Exeter. Both qualify for England this summer….

While I don't particularly want them (out of not wanting to pick players that aren't English, not because of quality), are they actually qualified? I think both of them have played U20s vs France back when that captured you for South Africa and the "you can represent a second nation" amendment specifically excludes representing a second nation that you only qualify for under residency.

Reserve the right to be wrong on the U20s thing - I can't remember the exact dates that various U20s sides screwed around with capturing.

Puja

I thought that this type of capturing players for international teams had been retrospectively voided? I don’t know if I heard/read that or just made an assumption though.

Kirsten and Vermeulen have played for SA U20's but i dont think that rules them out of England qualification.

I hope they're not picked. The 3 year residential qualification is an absolute joke, and one i thought was being binned?

fivepointer wrote:Kirsten and Vermeulen have played for SA U20's but i dont think that rules them out of England qualification.

I hope they're not picked. The 3 year residential qualification is an absolute joke, and one i thought was being binned?

It's 5 years now, which I think is what they'd come under. I don't mind a residency qualification (as I believe it's perfectly possible to adopt somewhere as your new home), but I still think 5 years is too short. I'd prefer something scaling like a third of your life - if you're 18 and lived somewhere 6 years, fine, same if you're 30 and lived there 10 years. It would preclude representing a country just because that's where you happened to get a pro contract.

Puja

It's been changed to five years, although the implementation was put back a year due to Covid - you had to have both served the three year period and have represented the country you qualified for by residency before Dec 31st last year, otherwise a player has to serve the five year period. The second part of that criteria struck me as weird, as if effectively makes players who had actually served the qualification period as it stood ineligible. I think both Kirsten and Vermeulen fall afoul of the new rules.

Surprisingly disappointing from Sale. Looked at that pack and thought they were going to be pretty hard to contain, but Exe seem to have done a number on them. Chiefs building well towards the end of the season when they might be able to call on a few more big names too.

Exe starting to get into gear. Their set piece has improved, the half backs look assured (S Maunder has added much needed zip), they've got players back from injury and they are looking dangerous from short and long range.
The only surprise yesterday was that they didnt push on in the 2nd half and get a try BP.