Team for Exeter

[westwinds31]

Whilst there were some good signs of recovery, I don’t think we can underestimate the job that needs doing here. Passion, physicality and effort should be given every match and training session. Being competitive is one thing, but then you also need the skill to be able to unlock defences etc. At the moment, we’re a long long way from that point I reckon. It won’t happen this season and I’d be surprised if it happened next season. It’s a long road back. Patience is going to be needed. Bath next week presents a different challenge. Borthwick I’m sure will be drumming in the Welford Road factor. We have to start winning at home...fans or no fans.

One observation....the cross field kick off the lineout (I think) in the first half was a decent move. Maybe we spotted that Exeter bring their wing in field leaving space in behind. Could have been a Taylor led move perhaps ?

[JP14]

6. Wells 7/10 - ... however I do feel like we should have gone with more grunt in the back row

JP, can you elaborate on this? Wells is arguably one of the biggest options we could play at 6.

I felt that, despite the fact Wells played very well, I was disappointed by our ballcarrying, we were unable to get on the front foot off second phase until Leatigaga came on.

Typical me not wording things right though!

[JP14]

Context first - Exeter are the best team in the country and were at almost full strength. Their team and coaching is settled and consistent and we were playing at their place. We are still waiting for many of our signings to arrive and our coaching and playing teams are as unsettled as any in the league.

Taute was a disappointment for me, he has the pedigree but he just doesn't look good enough to me. But that's ok, because Moroni is coming in - we've already got a solution.

Worth is not a Premiership 15, not if we want to get anywhere near the playoffs. Centre, maybe, but only as back up. But that's ok, because we have Murimurivalu joining - we've already got a solution. Surely Steward is worth some minutes in the meantime.

I thought Olowofela looked less physically vulnerable than when I've seen him previously, but I still have my doubts. But that's ok, because we have Van Wyk arriving - we've already got a solution.

Williams did ok for me and a useful player until reinforcements arrive. Scott was good, exactly what we need at 12. Ford was his usual excellent self. Refell looks at home in the Premiership. Wells was strong. Lavanini a bit underwhelming. T Youngs had a good game. Genge a bit quiet perhaps. Cole decent. I'm yet to be convinced by Heyes, but he's still very young for a prop. Thom didn't look out of his depth at all when he came on. Kerr decent. So many individual positives in my eyes.

My one big expectation was that Borthwick has fixed the lineout. It was flawless, so that's a huge success IMO - how many times has it been our achilles heel recently? Brilliant, keep it up.

The attitude looked good, we didn't capitulate under pressure, the defence was pretty solid other than Taute's error.

We know it will take time to make significant improvement, we know the back line is makeshift and that reinforcements are coming. Crucially I now know that improvement has already begun.

Lots more work to do, but I see that match as a good start to the Borthwick era.

Agree with most of this. I don’t know if it was rustiness but it seemed as though our maul wasn’t as powerful as it was pre-lockdown (even though we did get a penalty try from it!).

[Wayne Richardson Fan Club]

Some positives, to be taken from that game, they had to beat us, we were good at ruck time, attitude looked better. Lineout a revelation!
The penalty count was silly, but some if those were marginal at best, if you reverse the league positions Tigers don't get pinged, the Heyes ones on the scrum were wrong, Moon is following his elbow inwards.
Attack not much happening really, be interested to see the centres the other way round, Worth is solid at 15, not the best offensively, his hands really make you think he would be better at 12.
Genge was subdued I thought.
The Youngs brothers stood up, arguably YBY best game for us for sometime.
Two home wins would be ideal next up for progression.

[Fish8ter]

Really surprised at some of the negativity, especially considering the recent upheavals and that we are still awaiting the arrival of some key players. Considering where we were prior to SB arriving, at that point if we kept Exeter under 40 points, I would of been hugely surprised.

There now seems to be a bit more cohesion, lineout looking transformed, defence as a whole pretty robust (Exeter are pretty much impossible to stop 5 yards out and while they did score, we did hold out and even turned over ball, on several occasions!)

Yes the back three did look a little lost at times, however to build going forward we have to back young talent, if their confidence grows, we may start to see more of an attacking threat. Lets face it as well, under the salary cap no side can afford 15 stars, look at Exeter they have some really robust premiership players, nowhere near an international call up!

As whole my 1st impression of the new era, was more positives outweighing negatives and a step forward on what had been a shambles. We still have a huge way to go and those who believe we should already be top 4, need to show a little patience's and I think the next few games will give a better indicator of progress.

[happywomble]

Talking about the back three - they are all either youngsters or in the case of Williams, a new addition. In time, playing alongside older heads, they will improve and gel, so I view it currently very much a work in progress. I am looking forward to integrating the new players alongside our existing crop and I am sure in the long-term, things will be much more positive.

[johnthegriff]

Some seem to think we have a poor home record this season, we have lost only to Saracens when we had players away at the World Cup, and Exeter after a close game, the two best performing teams in the Premiership. All other matches were wins, not necessarily good wins but wins all the same. I know for us that record is not good enough but it is not as bad as some would have you believe.
I thought on Saturday we played ok, our back three particularly the wingers had little chance to shine, in my opinion Olowofela was the pick of the three, he does seem to have added some bulk but not many wingers are going to be able to hold up or force into touch a player like Ewers. The penalty count was significant, many decisions to me were unclear and some were very marginal, watching early matches from New Zealand under the new interpretations was similar in the penalties awarded and it took a couple of games for players and referees to adjust, I expect the same here. Steve Borthwick has had little chance to work with the players on full contact situations so I expect he too will have learned a lot from the match, I am sure there will be some changes to the team four our next game but I doubt there will be radical alterations.

[JP14]

Was disappointed by the performance in the scrum, Exeter prevented us from using it as a platform to build upon, although I feel as though we should have been awarded a penalty for the last scrum as Moon had bored in in my opinion.

I’ve never played in the front row, but it looked to me like Moon swung his elbow down and under every time the pressure came on. Seemed to be intent on collapsing the scrum.

Despite my stick frame I actually did play a bit at tighthead in the U11s , but no I agree there is definitely a bit of the dark arts whoever we play against, and the likes of Cole and now Genge are masters of it too, Heyes will get there.

[JP14]

I thought that Olowofela defended quite well and put some good shots on the Exeter back 3 of kick chase, which is something that has been largely missing for some time. As for the Ewers try, the fact that the flanker had to go round instead of through showed that he didn't just give, does anyone think would Premiership No.11s would have been able to defend that on their own?The answer is no, even Naiyaravoro, who let's be honest his defending is atrocious, would have struggled because of his lack of technique.

[JP14]

I'm more disappointed that no one laid out LCD.
The player that does will have automatic legend status in my opinion.

what upsets you so much about him?

I wasn't keen before.
Less so after yesterday.
See after scoring for why.

He is good friends with Gengey and I do rate him as a player. I don't believe his vomiting on the opposition was deliberate, but his reaction was definitely distasteful and would have received some self-policing in ye olde days.

It's nothing on Ben Morgan though ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sflN578-lpE

[Noggs]

Considering where we were before lockdown it was not a bad performance overall, particularly as many of the players had never played together under real game conditions. The contrast with the experience of the Exeter team became more pronounced as the game proceeded. As already said, we are far from being able to field our strongest team but this will change before too long.

Against a lesser team we may have had a win and I am certain we will have a win soon, perhaps next week against our old friends.

The new coaching team do seem to have had a positive effect and over the coming weeks player communication and understanding can only improve. I'm looking forward to the remainder of the season.