Exeter Chiefs
Match report Bedford v Chiefs
Chiefs
By Exeforever
January 20 2008
Exeforever gives the view of the latest installment of games with Bedford, which resulted in a last kick defeat for The Chiefs. He reflects on the teams performance and draws comparions with several games this season and looks at the prospects of Exeter finishing second in the league.
Bedford Reflections
By
Exeforever
"This game can be summed up succinctly as
We were awful
Bedford got lucky
The Ref was diabolical"
Make no mistake this defeat had been coming our way since the performances against Newbury (who would have won if they'd had more self belief) and Plymouth (who'd have won if Laidlaw had been able to do his job properly) so this third performance in which we totally failed to make correct decisions, kicked possession away and persistently fell foul of the Ref resulted in the defeat actually occurring.
On a day designed for "stuff it up your jumper" old fashioned Westcountry rugby Exe kicked or blundered away our first half possession. When we retained the ball the Ref took it off us in a series of penalties which felt like 12-1 to Bedford including binning Andress despite the fact that we were totally dominant in the scrum and held our own with 7 forwards against Bedford's 8!!.
Bedford's try encapsulated the day: Luff was AWOL from his wing (again) although Bedford's 10 had been kicking high and deep all game, when the ball emerged from the ruck Patston again kicked high and deep into the space Luff should have been defending, an Exeter defender tracked across to cover and clearly won the race to the touch down but Mr Wilson who was fully 35 metres away immediately raise his arm for the try without consulting the TJ and despite the players being between him and the ball.
It is vital that we don't brush this defeat off as another "could have gone either way" result. The management need to examine how a highly paid team of professional players can play so poorly and seemingly thoughtlessly, not once but now three times in a season. If we are to have a ghost of a chance of winning the division next year we must cut out the sort of displays we have seen in the three games I have mentioned.
Danny Gray appeared to suffer a groin injury but otherwise there didn't appear to be any additions to the walking wounded. We desperately need Richie Baxter back for his leadership qualities as much as his ball playing skills and it was good to see Kevin Barrett and Tony Walker get some League game time.
Hopefully this defeat will kill off even the wildest fantasy about beating Northampton to the title. We need now to concentrate on finishing 2nd not 4th. Pirates will be 8 points behind if they win today and 4 behind when we lose at Northampton. Anything less than a 5 point victory next week will hand them the opportunity to take 2nd place from us, particularly as we still have to go to Nottingham and Doncaster who, in turn, whilst 7 points behind us at present would be only 3 behind if we lose to them and with 10 games to go 3 points is far too small a margin for comfort. At the same time we have a stark choice, win the Trophy and finish 2nd in the League or have yet another season which promised so much and delivered absolutely nothing."
If this reads as if I'm very angry and frustrated with the team it's because I am, 480 miles in rain, spray and high winds to watch a performance as poor as that doesn't make for a happy reporter!!
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Discussion started by Unofficial Chiefs (IP Logged), 20/01/2008 15:51
Interesting report Exforever. I can understand your frustration.
Your report puts a completely different light on the match from that in todays Indy by Simon Hutchinson and it's always good to hear a different viewpoint.
I'm not going to say much more because I am still thinking about where we need to change as a team and also the makeup of the squad. I have some views forming which I will share at a later date. Not that they will mean anything. lol
Blimey, I'm being pragmatic and cryptic today and I've not had a drink yet.
Tony
Your report puts a completely different light on the match from that in todays Indy by Simon Hutchinson and it's always good to hear a different viewpoint.
I'm not going to say much more because I am still thinking about where we need to change as a team and also the makeup of the squad. I have some views forming which I will share at a later date. Not that they will mean anything. lol
Blimey, I'm being pragmatic and cryptic today and I've not had a drink yet.
Tony
we were awful, it was actually embarrassing that we got it that close, because Bedford were miles better than us! A club who are not full time pro, and have half the playing budget of us made us look very ordinary!
20/01/2008 20:25
I think you are being a bit harsh on Luffy. Fats was in the sinbin so Luffy was playing centre. Bedford got the ball from a turnover so he certainly wasn't at fault for their try.
I stand corrected re Luffy to whom my apologies. We didn't have sin bins when I played, though I did play at 11 and I still think he comes off his wing too often (something I was criticised for in my playing days).
The "good old days" when wingers barely touched the ball. I've heard it said that a good winger doesn't just ask for the ball he goes looking, although I do agree young Fluffy is a tad eager sometimes!
we could have snatched the game in the dying minutes if it hadn't been for the knock on. All our player had to do was let it go to ground and put a hand on it over the dead ball line but no he tried to catch it, a brave shot as we wern't catching the high wet ball through out the game which when realized by Bedford kicked a lot of them.
Never mind the team must put it behind them and go foward and play better on Saturday.
Never mind the team must put it behind them and go foward and play better on Saturday.
What a poor decision to try to catch a ball in those circumstances ultimately costing Chiefs 3 points. Someone wasn't thinking
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