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Any scores yet - cant find BBC radio commentary (as usual!)

Exeter 3-0 Gael Force HT

You should be able to hear the game here:-
Chiefs Game.....

Exeter 15 - 0 Gael Force FT

Good win much more solid in the pack in aweful conditions, much to much kicking. just got back from the game and will take me all night to dry out.

Quote:

Shouts loudly in rain
just got back from the game and will take me all night to dry out.

is that from the rain or the beer??

Don't let anything get in the way of a good game of Rugby

Both, But the beer was warmer than the rain.
watching poor old emyr lewis runing figures of 8 to keep warm he must of run a couple of miles.

A lot of poor decisions, when we were camped in their half all of the first 40. Danny had a terrible game. Conditions got even worse second half, heavy rain making pitch very slippery so both teams did well. As said before, to much kicking or maybe more intelligent kicking required.
Best man on pitch got the M.O.T.M well done Clive.
Not very happy, but this cup doesn't mean much.

A poor game to watch in very poor conditions. D gray's kicking wasn't the best so why the chiefs continued to use this option in the first half rather than kick for the corner only they will know.

plus points, I thought the handling was very good considering the wet conditions and we won without conceding any points against.

Sean Tomes has a new hair cut but if he had kept it long, maybe he wouldn't have had the stitches to his eye lid.

well done S Blythe on your 200th game

Conditions in the second half were simply awful and credit to both teams for at least trying to play and give us some entertainment. However the first half when there can be fewer excuses for inclement weather was dire. The Chiefs with overwhelming possession and territorial advantage failed to capitalise and a 3 / nil score at half time was simply not good enough against a team that, whilst technically sound, does not play week in week out and doesnt therefore bring with it that instinctive cohesion.
For the second week running too many players failed to impress, and where was the the leadership on the pitch ?

Diabolical, Diabolical, Diabolical, Diabolical

1. The weather was diabolical, bound to ruin any sort of game.
2. The referee was diabolical, what the weather didn't do to ruin the game, the referee did with his incessant whistling: stop stop stop! And when he should have blown the whistle on 2 occasions and at least sin binned a GF player, he seemed to reprimand the touch judge and then only gave a penalty, not from where the ball landed, but from some innocuous position.
3. There were some diabolical decisions made by our team today, the pack were clearly able to overrun the GF pack, but did we use that to our advantage, no!! We kicked away possession when today's game was clearly about getting the ball and keeping it tight. using the forwards to the full.
4. The result a diabolical game, played in the most miserable of conditions, yes, hard for the players, but equally hard for the spectators to watch.

I only hope that next week, we come out with our top team, firing on all cylinders, to face Donny, who will be fired up, knowing they have alot to do to pull themselves out of the relegation play off zone, spurred on by the knowledge that Castle park is a hard place to go and win, and knowing that their opposition have the burden of an unbeaten run in the league to weigh on their minds, and knowledge that, whether it was a second string team or not, the Chiefs are not unbeatable.

Exeter, believe in yourselves, prove we are the best in the league.

Chiefs Chiefs CHIEFS

for the conditions i thought we did pretty well. The handling was good considering the weather. Andrews and Moon ( both 20 and below) destroyed their scrum like they were playing school boys. Ewers came on and looked good in defence but also made hard yards every time he carried. Andy Miller got us 3-4 turnovers and looked like he was coming into form. These games just helped us look at academy players and get others into form from injury. The academy boys stood up and showed they could handle Championship rugby( perhaps not the big games yet). For example in the new Year we now have 2 open sides in form who, have both played A Internationals. Well played CSS, who's handling and box kicking were exceptional!

Listened to Rob Baxter's interview after the game, he said he was really pleased the players stuck to the gameplan the coaches put in place for those horrendous conditions. He said people may go away thinking there was too much kicking, but that is what the players were asked to do to keep pressure on the opposition, and he was very happy with the game control showed in the freezing rain, wind and very wet pitch. And the fact that nil points were scored against in the whole match proved that. He even saw quality rugby played, so perhaps he was watching a different match to some of you lot!

Quite a dull game despite the weather.

We all know the cup is a very low priority for the club but allows them to give a run out to several players and experiment, however for those of us that may have paid good money to see these performances which were dull can be very frustrating, therefore as these are played like friendlies why not drop the admission to £5 to £10, if not attendances will drop for each cup game.

The expectations from the game of a coach is often very different from the average spectator, (apart from winning of course). The coach will look for players doing specific jobs and being in specific areas of the pitch at specific times based on work carried out in training. Whilst we spectators are looking for entertainment and the ball being taken forward preferably in hand rather than with the boot.

BTW Andy Miller had an awesome game in tricky conditions his clearing out at rucks, tackles and getting about the pitch was a reminder to those of us that have missed him of how good a player he is. Tough call in future matches for Rob between Miller and Scaysbrook.

Tough call in future matches for Rob between Miller and Scaysbrook.[/quote]

Yes but a great positition to be in, having these two players to choose from.

East Terrace center

Exeter Chiefs a Premership Rugby Club

Ok, so there was a bit of a light shower during the game, must admit though, I didn't realise just how heavy it was raining and how difficult it must have been for the players until after the match and I walked back to the car.

I have never seen water like it, running down the bridge, minor lakes to walk through, ankle deep. I was so soaked by the time I got to the car that my jeans were falling down they were so sodden. So well done to the players for competing in the worst weather I have seen at SP.

On another note. I thought the pitch held up superbly, ok there was quite a bit of standing water towards the end but the pitch didn't cut up at all. No mud either. If it had been the County Ground it would have either have been cancelled or it would have been a mudbath and you wouldn't know one player from the other.

Other than that, a forgettable match.

Tony

made me chuckle to hear some spectatrs shouting for the palyers to run the ball. make sme think its possible they (the specctators) havent played the game in conditions like that. kicking was the right thing to do - on the other hand some better positional kicking would have been very welcome.

Wander how often Gael Force have had to play in Gale Force conditions!

"a forgettable match"
"a dull match" etc etc

In conditions like that, how could it have been any different? Spectators behind me were screaming even in the second half when water was actually covering the surface of the pitch; "Run with it!" Unfortunately (as anybody who's ever played knows, in these conditions, you get the ball in the opposition half as much as possible and let them make the mistake - that's why there's little choice but to kick the ball away.

As for the "obvious" solution of keeping it tight the whole time, , in the first half, the forward did take the ball on often very well, once, twice, three times but it nearly always ended with a knock on or a penalty.

As for value for money for spectators not getting an attractive match; on this occasion SURELY - blame the weather not the players!!!!

Well the water training has paid off for the coaches. Some needed armbands and a rubber ring but they were very effective at what they did. Running, kicking, passing all tricky and open to errors, in those conditions. We cant really grumble about a win... oh I forget yes we can cos they real ale ran out again!!

Well if you do get promoted to the GP dont expect Wasps to get off the bus if the weather is like that. Dont appear to like to get their knees dirty!

Hi guys,

We all know the priority is promotion so the cup is a chance to give some other guys a chance to show what they can do and put themselves forward for selection in the league. I think the fact we were able to keep our line intact given the conditions was a credit to the team. I also agree there was too much kicking, Although having watched Ireland V SA there was plenty of kicking in that game too but the difference was it was for a reason. DG had a bad day with his kicking I know that conditions would not have helped but even so kicking for the points when it was clearly out of his range surely would have made more sense to kick for the corners and use our set moves considering both tries came from the forward presure.

On the plus side we are back to league matters this weekend and several guys have had a well earned rest which should help in such a tricky game.

Well the other guys do get the opportunity to win a cup so they have everything to play for.

Sorry but surprising as it may seem GP is the goal not some Mickey Mouse Mario Karts cup.