RugbyRebels

STARTING XV
15 Freddie Steward [70]
14 Chris Ashton [25]
13 Matt Scott [63]
12 Dan Kelly [53]
11 Anthony Watson [14]
10 Handré Pollard [12]
9 Jack van Poortvliet [63]
1 James Cronin [14]
2 Julián Montoya (c) [41]
3 Dan Cole [307]
4 George Martin [56]
5 Cameron Henderson [34]
6 Hanro Liebenberg [82]
7 Tommy Reffell [97]
8 Jasper Wiese [58]

REPLACEMENTS
16 Charlie Clare [76]
17 Tom West [8]
18 Joe Heyes [121]
19 Eli Snyman [33]
20 Olly Cracknell [22]
21 Ben Youngs [299]
22 Jimmy Gopperth [15]
23 Harry Potter [64]

Exeter Chiefs team news
15 Stuart Hogg
14 Tom Wyatt
13 Sean O’Brien
12 Solomone Kata
11 Olly Woodburn
10 Joe Simmonds
9 Will Becconsall
1 Nika Abuladze
2 Jack Yeandle (capt)
3 Josh Iosefa-Scott
4 Jack Dunne
5 Jonny Gray
6 Aidon Davis
7 Christ Tshiunza
8 Sam Simmonds

Replacements
16 Jack Innard
17 Scott Sio
18 Marcus Street
19 Mike Williams
20 Rus Tuima
21 Stu Townsend
22 Harvey Skinner
23 Rory O’Loughlin

Ben Youngs will bring up his triple century for Tigers if he comes off the bench. Great to have Youngs, Scott and Ashton all back fit and available for this game.

Good team for Leicester - backs starting to get fit at just the right time. Really pleasing to see Ashton back and given a chance to finish off in style.

Doesn't look to be the strongest pack from Exeter. I'd back up to have ascendancy up front and, with home advantage as well, I'm feeling pretty confident about this one.

Puja

Chiefs have got some really good momentum with them though and that makes the dangerous, as does the fact they've finally managed to field a decent half back pairing. We should have beat them at Sandy Park and lost so I'm not presuming this will be an easy game.

That being said we really ought to be doing a number on them at scrum time and looking to attack the breakdown. They've got a bit pack so they should be very physical but no fetcher and neither of their starting props would make our squad. All about stopping that Chiefs momentum early.

Looking at the two teamsheets, most would forecast that the Leicester pack would walk all over the Exeter forwards. Most predicted the same before Exeter's last match, though.

That penalty try is one of the craziest decisions I have seen

Looked all wrong (Dickson's decision, that is), but you can't stop Ash the Splash, century up

p/d wrote: ↑Sun Apr 16, 2023 4:18 pm That penalty try is one of the craziest decisions I have seen

Was it correct according to the laws?

p/d wrote: ↑Sun Apr 16, 2023 4:18 pm That penalty try is one of the craziest decisions I have seen

It was ridiculous. If you start dishing our pens and therefore yellow/red cards and penalty tries for that kind of play, that we see often, then the game will be unplayable.

I was already irritated by aspects of the game and this just made me turn it off.

fivepointer wrote: ↑Sun Apr 16, 2023 4:44 pm

p/d wrote: ↑Sun Apr 16, 2023 4:18 pm That penalty try is one of the craziest decisions I have seen

It was ridiculous. If you start dishing our pens and therefore yellow/red cards and penalty tries for that kind of play, that we see often, then the game will be unplayable.

I was already irritated by aspects of the game and this just made me turn it off.

Yes, did the same.

It’s getting like the old people’s home again…

fivepointer wrote: ↑Sun Apr 16, 2023 4:44 pm

p/d wrote: ↑Sun Apr 16, 2023 4:18 pm That penalty try is one of the craziest decisions I have seen

It was ridiculous. If you start dishing our pens and therefore yellow/red cards and penalty tries for that kind of play, that we see often, then the game will be unplayable.

I was already irritated by aspects of the game and this just made me turn it off.

I appreciate the ‘diving on a player’ who has clearly scored but to dish out a card under those circumstances just seems madness. Even more so as I had celebrated what I thought was a excellent try saving tackle on the cheeky chappy

Well done Leicester, damned good defence and far more smarts than Exeter.
As for Exeter, the mullets just keep on coming

Good on the splash, he always has fun!

Nice to see he got 3. From initially finding him a bit grating he’s come to be one of my favourites, particularly in the little off-field stuff I’ve seen of him.

It’s like he actually enjoys the game and also likes that people enjoy watching him.

Mikey Brown wrote: ↑Sun Apr 16, 2023 5:34 pm Nice to see he got 3. From initially finding him a bit grating he’s come to be one of my favourites, particularly in the little off-field stuff I’ve seen of him.

It’s like he actually enjoys the game and also likes that people enjoy watching him.

Agreed, somewhat to my initial surprise he seems a good bloke.

Hogg seems a shadow of his former self. He looks and moves like a muscle-bound barrel. Probably a good decision to retire.

fivepointer wrote: ↑Sun Apr 16, 2023 4:44 pm

p/d wrote: ↑Sun Apr 16, 2023 4:18 pm That penalty try is one of the craziest decisions I have seen

It was ridiculous. If you start dishing our pens and therefore yellow/red cards and penalty tries for that kind of play, that we see often, then the game will be unplayable.

I was already irritated by aspects of the game and this just made me turn it off.

I've just seen a replay. Cannot understand that decision at all

Peej wrote: ↑Sun Apr 16, 2023 9:16 pm

fivepointer wrote: ↑Sun Apr 16, 2023 4:44 pm

p/d wrote: ↑Sun Apr 16, 2023 4:18 pm That penalty try is one of the craziest decisions I have seen

It was ridiculous. If you start dishing our pens and therefore yellow/red cards and penalty tries for that kind of play, that we see often, then the game will be unplayable.

I was already irritated by aspects of the game and this just made me turn it off.

I've just seen a replay. Cannot understand that decision at all

It's one of those that's absolutely technically correct - you are not allowed to dive onto or into a player on the floor (anywhere on the pitch, not just when they've gone down for a kick or a try) and there's no doubt that Woodburn dived into Ashton to push him into touch, so it's foul play that stopped a probable try. But it felt wrong to be a yellow, let alone a red.

I never like the 2 yellows = a red rule anyway. It's a holdover from the days when yellows were a foul play warning, rather than a sin-bin and punishment in their own right, and I just don't think it's necessary. Getting a second yellow should be enough punishment on its own.

Puja

Agree with Puja. Technically it is a penalty and therefore escalated but that is really harsh and 999/1000 times that happens and the ref never penalises it. Extremely harsh. If Dickson hasn't penalised Woodburn then no Tigers fan would have complained.

Personally I think the two yellow cards equals a red. It stops the cynical penalties mounting and players risking taking 10 mins if they think it'll stop a crucial try.

FKAS wrote: ↑Sun Apr 16, 2023 10:27 pm Personally I think the two yellow cards equals a red. It stops the cynical penalties mounting and players risking taking 10 mins if they think it'll stop a crucial try.

I see your point, but it's rare that a red is given for an inveterate cheat who won't learn. More often, it's situations like this one where the second offence is just a technical one and the ref has to either change the whole game or, worse, decide not to dish out the second yellow because he doesn't want to give a red. You saw it today with the TMO trying to talk Dickson out of it with the laughable attempt to claim that Woodburn's actions didn't affect whether Ashton went into touch - it was nonsense, but he was trying to find a way to avoid the red.

On a more positive note, it was a fun game and we were absolutely stuffing them even before the red. Thought it was the best I've seen from JVP in a very long time and West had another top game. Good game for McKellar to come and watch. Interesting to see Contepomi sitting next to Pinchin in the stands - might've been there just to cast an eye over Montoya, but I would love to see him join McKellar's backroom team. Just the kind of experienced coach we could use.

Puja

I can't remember the last time there was two yellows for a red, it's always been a handy deterrent. Woodburn's first yellow card was well deserved and given it was an overlap with plenty of space a fairly cynical bit of play. He'd have known he was on thin ice and wouldn't have been going for any more optimistic intercepts etc.

Contepomi would be a handy coaching addition. He's got the sort of experience we need to help develop the attack. The defence under the current coaches is working so keeping them around makes sense.

I'm sure McKellar will have enjoyed what he saw.

Not the first time we've seen a decision like this.

I have a lot more sympathy with Woodburn than I expected to, from what I'd read about this incident beforehand. I have a lot of sympathy for the refs too given how many idiotic and contradictory laws there seem to be, but it's hard to imagine this even getting picked up 99% of the time. The Hume on seems more obviously foul play to me, but maybe that's just the slow motion and the fact the initial tackler is out of the picture.

My main takeaway more and more often is that if the best refs we have (presumably) are constantly making these mistakes we need to change the laws. It can't be that there are a ton of great refs simply not getting a chance, while Adamson and Dickson just blunder on forever.

Mikey Brown wrote: ↑Mon Apr 17, 2023 9:49 am I have a lot more sympathy with Woodburn than I expected to, from what I'd read about this incident beforehand. I have a lot of sympathy for the refs too given how many idiotic and contradictory laws there seem to be, but it's hard to imagine this even getting picked up 99% of the time. The Hume on seems more obviously foul play to me, but maybe that's just the slow motion and the fact the initial tackler is out of the picture.

My main takeaway more and more often is that if the best refs we have (presumably) are constantly making these mistakes we need to change the laws. It can't be that there are a ton of great refs simply not getting a chance, while Adamson and Dickson just blunder on forever.

Bedford get the odd Prem ref and I think the step up in quality is noticeable. This is true even when it’s ‘Tempo’, who makes me think that he must be partially blind whenever I watch him officiate a Prem match.