Exeter Chiefs
Last season – success or failure?
By ouch!_that_hurts
July 7 2023
As I was looking through the forum after taking up the moderator role, I read a few threads from the past 10 – 12 months, all with a very similar theme – what’s gone wrong at the Chiefs? And it’s not only on here that the questions were being asked; numerous articles in the mainstream media were asking the same thing. What struck me is that few other teams seem to have had similar focus and it occurs to me that that may be because Exeter had been at, or near, the top of the tree for the past 8 or so years and now we weren’t. In addition, the players that had taken and kept us there won’t be with us next season.
This all got me to thinking, was last season a success or a failure?
The men’s team
Starting with the Premiership, this was, to me, a strange season. We won all, bar one, of our home games – a loss to Saracens with the last kick of the ball. Conversely, we lost all our away games, with the exception of the 50 – 14 thumping of Bristol.
The Champions Cup saw a similar pattern, with us winning both our home and one of our away games in the group stage. The outcome was that we had home advantage which again proved beneficial ………….. until we met La Rochelle in Bordeaux. At least we can say we were knocked out by the champions!
Finally, we have the Premiership Cup. The Chiefs won all their pool games (including the ‘walkover’ against Warriors) and then beat what looked on paper to be a strong Sale Sharks team. A nail-biting extra time final win against London Irish meant Chiefs had brought the premier domestic rugby cup home for the third time.
The women’s team
The women’s team’s second season has to be considered a huge success – runners-up in the league and winners of the Allianz Cup. So, could they do better in their third season.
The Premier 15’s season got off to a late start because of the delayed world cup in New Zealand. Chiefs started badly, losing to Gloucester Hartpury in the opening game at Sandy Park. They then went on an 11 game winning streak, getting a try bonus point in every one of those games. Finishing second in the table they met and beat a strong Saracens side to set up a final against Gloucester Hartpury at the renamed ‘Queensholm’. In front of almost 10,000 people, unfortunately, GH proved too strong on the day and the Chiefs women had to settle for runners-up for the second year in a row.
Like the men, the women play their domestic cup matches during the international windows. After winning three of their four pool games, Chiefs beat Bristol to set up another knock-out match against Saracens at Sandy Park. In front of a raucous 2734 crowd, Chiefs won 29 – 19 to lift the Allianz Cup for the second year running.
My conclusion
So, while we were all moaning on here through last season about the state of Exeter Rugby, on reflection, it doesn’t seem to have been quite as bad as it seemed at the time. We won both domestic cups, the men reached the semi-final of the European Champions Cup and the women were runners-up in the Premier 15s.
Yes, things could have gone better but they could also have been an awful lot worse.
What do you think?
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07/07/2023 18:09
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I'm excited for the coming season.
In Rob we trust.
By the way - cream on first. There's nothing to debate.
I will enjoy next season as it will be a Genesis year, the start of a new chapter.
I too am actually looking forward to a new era beginning next season which could be exciting in its own way.
The women have done extremely well since joining the league and I expect that to continue. I’ve only seen three games but what I saw was very entertaining.
If as a club we can keep our heads above the water financially I don’t see any reason why we can’t get back to where we were .
Overall winning the Prem cup and reaching that amazing semi final in Bordeaux, the atmosphere of which I doubt I’ll ever experience again, was a pretty good effort. That along with the success enjoyed by our superb ladies meant overall we had a good season.
And I too am excited to see what our new look team can achieve in the next few years. I’m hoping that Frost, Feyi Waboso, Wyatt, Jenkins, Fisilau, Tuima, Becconsall, Cairns and no doubt a few others will become established stars, along with a good few already established names, leading on to future glory. Rob has guided us there once and i have little doubt he has the appetite to do it again.
The future is exciting.
It was undoubtedly a failure to get the best out of a very talented squad that were domestic and European champions only a few seasons before.
The reasons for that are many and are well documented,the squad certainly did not seem together as before.
Last season was the end of an era but for me that all seemed to be a long drawn out end of an era with lots of drip feeding of who might be leaving,who was leaving and general negativity all contributing to a negative feeling about the club.
I probably wasn't the only person that was glad to see the season come to an end!
Let's hope the younger core of players knit together and create a similar bond,desire and hunger that the previous squad had up until a couple of seasons ago.
What the ladies have achieved in a short space of time has been incredible. There will obviously be some challenges within the squad next season with meeting quotas/restrictions etc but the signings made look very promising.
At Home
Played 10
Won 9
Lost 1
WBP 4 (scored 3 tries in other 5 games - potentially 5 points missed!)
LBP 1 (lost by 2 points to Sarries in the final minute)
Away
Played 10
Won 1 (Put 50 points on Bristol, we also won away at Worcester but voided)
Lost 9 (Again scored 3 tries in 5 of those games)
LBP 3
Given we rarely managed to field our first choice 15 and the turmoil going on behind the scenes (multiple transfers of big name players), we weren’t as bad as some have painted us.
In Rob we trust.
By the way - cream on first. There's nothing to debate.
It seemed to turn a corner at the end of the season, but could not negate the overall negative feeling for the season as a whole.
Hopefully the reset of the squad with quality younger players will generate more excitement next season.
So on the whole a successful season if all things included and a great building block for future ones.
We are still independent as a club, a very rare thing in rugby.
Quote:clalan
A rebuild season, great by women average by men which is understandable. Off field getting on top of debt by unforeseen covid and wisely investing in the stadia and hotel will put us on a very sound footing in seasons to come (If the sport survives).
So on the whole a successful season if all things included and a great building block for future ones.
We are still independent as a club, a very rare thing in rugby.
Amen to that!
