Exeter Chiefs 21st December

[JP14]

Is Pearce Devonian then?

[YoWaGoWan]

How can a team go from seemingly having a game plan to not having a clue, it beggars belief,the effort of the players is not in question,and to be honest i have not got a clue what the answer is myself, except to say that it must be the coaching.
Also i did not like the footage of Geordan Murphy having a run-in with a fan,i know we saw footage of him apologising later to same fan but only after he realised his first altercation had been televised, and having listened in the week to Tom Youngs throwing his toys out on The Leicester Tigers Rugby Show when asked about crooked throw-ins,i wonder if those two cannot keep it together how can we expect our team to.Sorry to have to have posted this but my dispair gets worse and worse,
Very dissapointed

[Jimmy Skitz]

Is Pearce Devonian then?

From Exeter

[JP14]

If I were Tigers I would lodge an official complaint.

[Raimond]

I have a couple of observations and a question.

Anyone know what Murphy was bickering about with spectators?

Yep, it was the guy stood behind me. He shouted "What's the point in making them now, what's the point?" after the 4 replacements came on. Loud, perhaps challenging but not exactly abuse!!
Geordan 'showed he cared' I suppose!! He came toward the feller loudly (and pretty confrontationally) shouting "There's always a f***ing point". He effed 2 or 3 times with kids about. He said "I know you're frustrated but so are we and we know what we're doing, there's always a f***ing reason".

To his (sort of) credit he came back 5 mins later, apologised and looked mortified with himself. But all a bit desperate and embarrassing really.

[fentiger]

Is Pearce Devonian then?

From Exeter

It's the continual 'blind eye' to their being offside, lazy running and blockers that really bugs me. That said, it doesn't excuse the second half performance, or rather, lack of!

[loretta]

I don’t think people being disgruntled or complaining about the standard of coaching or players is poisonous (given we’ve lost 5/6 and have failed to pick up a LBP every time). As many regularly point out, this is a forum and everyone has their own opinion and is entitled to voice it. The well poisoners are out there but few and far between imho.

I’d be disappointed as a life long Leicester Tigers fan if I was reading nothing but praise on here given our current predicament. We played to a standard in the first 50 minutes that has not been shown by Tigers in the GP for some time so yes there is lots to be positive about but how easily it all unraveled in the second half is what concerns me. Play like we did in the first half and we come away from Twickers with the points

Tigers have every sign of a side that are chronically and acutely short of confidence, in themselves and each other. Less than a sum of its parts and used to losing. When they play well for a period, confidence builds - but it’s fragile. The first 50 minutes was wonderful but when 2 tries were conceded in quick succession, with some help from the ref, everything collapsed. Frankly, it was predictable.

As far as I can see, if we haven’t got one, we need a really good sports psychologist.

[CitizenSmiff]

I have a couple of observations and a question.

Anyone know what Murphy was bickering about with spectators?

Yep, it was the guy stood behind me. He shouted "What's the point in making them now, what's the point?" after the 4 replacements came on. Loud, perhaps challenging but not exactly abuse!!
Geordan 'showed he cared' I suppose!! He came toward the feller loudly (and pretty confrontationally) shouting "There's always a f***ing point". He effed 2 or 3 times with kids about. He said "I know you're frustrated but so are we and we know what we're doing, there's always a f***ing reason".

To his (sort of) credit he came back 5 mins later, apologised and looked mortified with himself. But all a bit desperate and embarrassing really.

Eesh that's not great behaviour from Geordie, especially when the game was still technically in the balance. Also its a bit of a weird flex to claim throwing 4 subs in far too late was part of a well thought out plan.

[Tiglon]

I have a couple of observations and a question.

Anyone know what Murphy was bickering about with spectators?

Yep, it was the guy stood behind me. He shouted "What's the point in making them now, what's the point?" after the 4 replacements came on. Loud, perhaps challenging but not exactly abuse!!
Geordan 'showed he cared' I suppose!! He came toward the feller loudly (and pretty confrontationally) shouting "There's always a f***ing point". He effed 2 or 3 times with kids about. He said "I know you're frustrated but so are we and we know what we're doing, there's always a f***ing reason".

To his (sort of) credit he came back 5 mins later, apologised and looked mortified with himself. But all a bit desperate and embarrassing really.

It is nice to know he shares the frustration, but he needs to show it in better ways. I did also notice when the cameras showed him going to apologise that as he walked away he shook his head as if to indicate that the apology wasn't entirely heartfelt and he still thought the bloke was a ****, rather like a child who has just been told off and persuaded to apologise. It might not be fair to read that much into it, but it seemed that way.

These days with substitutions it isn't as simple as "this guy looks tired so let's bring him off" or "I reckon this guy would play better". Each player has every movement tracked and the coaches can tell exactly when their output starts to drop and they show signs of tiredness - so I can appreciate that there is always "a point" and a reason, even if others judge it to be the wrong decision or timing.

If you wanted to be harsh, you might wonder why, if Geordan knows what he's doing, the second half performance was so bad.

[AngusMcCoatup]

btw today we had JP Doyle reffing London Irish and Luke Pearce reffing Exeter, this would never be allowed in football so why do they do this in Rugby, its a pretty simple fix.

We were talking to several Exeter supporters in the ABC and they advised that Luke Pearce does not or cannot Referee Chiefs at Sandy Park as he lives about 1/2 mile from the ground and they too were amazed but delighted he was the Ref. today.
There was several high tackles and a blatant late tackle on Ford, off sides all the time and no action from the assistants either. But this is what Tigers have experienced before from Pearce and more concerning is he is an International Referee now!
I too feel he should not Referee any Exeter games and JP Doyle no Irish games either but I expect JPD to Ref when Irish are here the way the selection goes. Today the officials decided the result sorry!

[speedski]

I have a couple of observations and a question.

Anyone know what Murphy was bickering about with spectators?

Yep, it was the guy stood behind me. He shouted "What's the point in making them now, what's the point?" after the 4 replacements came on. Loud, perhaps challenging but not exactly abuse!!
Geordan 'showed he cared' I suppose!! He came toward the feller loudly (and pretty confrontationally) shouting "There's always a f***ing point". He effed 2 or 3 times with kids about. He said "I know you're frustrated but so are we and we know what we're doing, there's always a f***ing reason".

To his (sort of) credit he came back 5 mins later, apologised and looked mortified with himself. But all a bit desperate and embarrassing really.

It is nice to know he shares the frustration, but he needs to show it in better ways. I did also notice when the cameras showed him going to apologise that as he walked away he shook his head as if to indicate that the apology wasn't entirely heartfelt and he still thought the bloke was a ****, rather like a child who has just been told off and persuaded to apologise. It might not be fair to read that much into it, but it seemed that way.

These days with substitutions it isn't as simple as "this guy looks tired so let's bring him off" or "I reckon this guy would play better". Each player has every movement tracked and the coaches can tell exactly when their output starts to drop and they show signs of tiredness - so I can appreciate that there is always "a point" and a reason, even if others judge it to be the wrong decision or timing.

If you wanted to be harsh, you might wonder why, if Geordan knows what he's doing, the second half performance was so bad.

I think he was shaking his head more in disappointment with himself in losing control.

[speedski]

btw today we had JP Doyle reffing London Irish and Luke Pearce reffing Exeter, this would never be allowed in football so why do they do this in Rugby, its a pretty simple fix.

We were talking to several Exeter supporters in the ABC and they advised that Luke Pearce does not or cannot Referee Chiefs at Sandy Park as he lives about 1/2 mile from the ground and they too were amazed but delighted he was the Ref. today.
There was several high tackles and a blatant late tackle on Ford, off sides all the time and no action from the assistants either. But this is what Tigers have experienced before from Pearce and more concerning is he is an International Referee now!
I too feel he should not Referee any Exeter games and JP Doyle no Irish games either but I expect JPD to Ref when Irish are here the way the selection goes. Today the officials decided the result sorry!

No they didn’t. The team on the pitch in the second half decided that. We must stop kicking away possession and we must start showing taufua levels of passion. He should not have been substituted - he showed pride in the badge and put his body on the line. By far the best player on the pitch

[sam16111986]

I have a couple of observations and a question.

Anyone know what Murphy was bickering about with spectators?

Yep, it was the guy stood behind me. He shouted "What's the point in making them now, what's the point?" after the 4 replacements came on. Loud, perhaps challenging but not exactly abuse!!
Geordan 'showed he cared' I suppose!! He came toward the feller loudly (and pretty confrontationally) shouting "There's always a f***ing point". He effed 2 or 3 times with kids about. He said "I know you're frustrated but so are we and we know what we're doing, there's always a f***ing reason".

To his (sort of) credit he came back 5 mins later, apologised and looked mortified with himself. But all a bit desperate and embarrassing really.

It is nice to know he shares the frustration, but he needs to show it in better ways. I did also notice when the cameras showed him going to apologise that as he walked away he shook his head as if to indicate that the apology wasn't entirely heartfelt and he still thought the bloke was a ****, rather like a child who has just been told off and persuaded to apologise. It might not be fair to read that much into it, but it seemed that way.

These days with substitutions it isn't as simple as "this guy looks tired so let's bring him off" or "I reckon this guy would play better". Each player has every movement tracked and the coaches can tell exactly when their output starts to drop and they show signs of tiredness - so I can appreciate that there is always "a point" and a reason, even if others judge it to be the wrong decision or timing.

If you wanted to be harsh, you might wonder why, if Geordan knows what he's doing, the second half performance was so bad.

If the bloke in the crowd is a big enough bloke to call Murphy out he's a big enough bloke to take Murphy's retort. Murphy is only human and I have every sympathy with him, he's doing his best and for the first half we dominated one of the best teams in the league. Less effing would be preferable.

Tough one with the subs, the options on the bench were our front row and backrow. Genge, Cole, Taufua and Kalamafoni were among our best players. It's a fine line to judge when is the right time to take them off and introduce someone else.

[DeadlyDunc]

Some of the comments on here would make you think we were playing some tin pot side that lose most weeks or that have a tendency to lose close games.

Unfortunately that is us at the moment but to push a quality Chiefs side (it was still a more than decent XV they put out) is a signifivant step in the right direction.

There is no shame in losing to Exeter or Sarries for any Premiership team these days as long as the performance is there or thereabouts which for the most part it was.

Does it not frustrate you that a Leicester Tigers side that closely resembles our best 15 is seen as such a none threat that teams can rest some of their key players and still expect to take it on and worse than that not get that slight rammed back down their throats by one of our best performances in a couple of years? That's why there is anger here, we are now not seen as any sort of threat to the top teams despite having a line up with a goodly seam of internationals in it.

Leicester Tigers on the pitch are currently significantly less than the sum of their parts, week in week out.

You expected that to be different to the past 2 years today?

I’m not expecting anyone to have a magic wand, IMO Murphy is trying to turnaround a decade of rot and decline and not just on the field.

The fact that some fans look at the badge and history and somehow believe things to be different because of them could be viewed as part of the problem.

We are where we are and today was the best I’ve seen us play for weeks and Exeter are probably the best (maybe 2nd) best team in the league. They have a structure that’s been imprinted for 10yrs and everyone in that club knows their role in it.

We are trying to put right a long period of wrongs and it won’t happen Overnight just by having a decent squad but we’ve got the start of a good squad thanks to decent recruitment this past summer.

[mol2]

We tried hard for the first half.
We were poor in the second half 15 individuals and no team structure, one off runners going nowhere.
A 2 man back row was not the miracle we needed in deed Green was predictably anonymous playing out of position.

The number of tackles told and Exeter found scoring too easy as we tired.

Fitness levels were woeful bar the England contingent, Veainu, Lavannini an Tafua.
How many more times do we have to see Genge dragging players back to their feet after making a tackle and seemingly satisfied that they had done their bit for that phase like Crane in days of old.
We didn’t replace our conditioning coach 8 or so years back and we have gone from the fittest team to that of the amateur era when players had to juggle work and training.
Subs brought on too late when the players they replaced had been exposed as knackered and or too late to make a difference.

Rudderless on and off the pitch.