Exeter Chiefs
Well That Was Crazy
RB
By ExTeddChief
October 15 2013
ExTeddChiefTakes a personal look at Chiefs win over Cardiff Blues
Well That Was Crazy!
What can I say about the Chiefs season so far? Well it has been messy. The Premiership season started while I was in Slovenia, the less said about the Saints result the better. In fact it wasn’t until the trip to Glaws that we finally seemed to be firing on all cylinders.
So, now we took a timeout for the Heineken Cup. First up were Cardiff and well, you guys know about my Exeter grandfather but before this match I couldn’t help thinking about my late Welsh grandfather, buried up in Burnham with “he picked up the ball and ran with it” on his tombstone! A hardcore rugby fan, Cardiff were his team in his younger days and while the side we were going to be up against are technically not the same club he’d have cheered for, the Chiefs pre-Premiership form certainly had his attention and the idea of an Exeter vs Cardiff game in the Heineken Cup would have probably raised his eyebrows.
As it was it was an early wakeup call for me, partly because of the Japanese Grand Prix, partly because Dad wanted to come up from Teignmouth and get some swimming in before the game. As for his Dad, he couldn’t make it and well...the acquiring of tickets for this game proved to be a bit of a farce. First I accidentally ordered two NWT tickets for the Leicester game(when I only needed to order one). Then Liane at the ticket office accidentally transferred both tickets(rather than just one) for the Cardiff game. Luckilly, Dad was more than happy to snap up a spare Heineken Cup ticket. Then for some reason the Cardiff tickets didn’t arrive in the post so I’d have
So, swimming, Baked Eggs and Chorizo at BTP, then check out some ipods at the i-store, then we had to get moving. Slight problem we ran into some roadworks on Topsham Road so by the time we finally got to parking at Digby it was 25 minutes before kick off.
When I have to I can move fast. Made the bridge with 15 minutes to go. Into Sandy Park proper with 10 minutes to go...ticket collection point...does not have tickets. Ticket office queue...seems to take ages. 5 minutes to go. Finally, we have tickets. Through the turnstyles just as the teams are coming out, into NWT by the skin of our teeth...
The Chiefs were in no mood to hang around though but Cardiff managed to hold off our initial charge and at one point looked liked they’d got themselves a try but the pass was well forward.
Instead the Chiefs were soon back on the attack, the play disappeared behind a crowd of heads...then the NWT cheered, Tom Johnson claiming the credit. After a bit, the Welsh side came down our way and set themselves up with what looked like a ballsy penalty attempt but credit to Leigh Halfpenny, he slotted it.
The Chiefs though were definitely hungry and Steeno slotted a pen to extend our lead. Some kick tennis drew some snarks but then...well...I knew that Cardiff were beatable but I expected them to put up slightly more resistance than a good Welsh steak!
First Mumm picked up the ball, saw a very nice gap...and ran all the way to the tryline! Then the ball zinged its way to Jess with Cardiff seemingly not knowing what was hitting them and that was try number three. Steeno converting both those two.
And we weren’t done. Their pack was at our mercy...and we had no mercy! Vainikolo didn’t need much encouragement. That...secured our first WBP of the season! In the Heineken Cup! I thought the performance vs Glaws was class...this was sensastional! The Blues just could not handle us! Steeno continued to do the business with the conversions! Rob clearly had their number and White soon made it five! It had been a while since I’ve really pinched myself during a Chiefs game but this...well...there were shouts of “bring on Toulon” from the NWT! That was a bit cocky but still...it was a halftime scoreline that was still going to make jaws drop across Europe.
It is without saying that that kind of display requires an Otter just to get my feet back on the ground. The only question left was...how many more points could we get?
Well, as a guy later said, Cardiff couldn’t play much worse and they desperately tried to surge forward at the start of the second half but our guys held firm. Eventually the ball came down our way again and eventually Steeno set up Whitten to surge down the line for try number six.
Cardiff were dead and buried. They seemed to have other ideas though. Maybe the Chiefs were a bit too complacent but eventually we let them run into a gap and Lloyd Williams claimed credit for the try which Halfpenny converted.
There was no way Cardiff were going to turn this one round but defensivly we were certainly getting careless. More gaps appeared and Robin Copeland was able to do the business with Halfpenny again converting.
It was time for the Chiefs to tighten things up...just in case. It was not a good time for two guys to get binned and soon we had reason to look nervously at the clock.
With two guys down gaps were going to appear and twice visiting players were able to run through those gaps and into the corner. Now in was Cardiff that seemed invincible, Alex and Cuthbert and Harry Robinson the ones to join the try party. Halfpenny continuing to slot conversions.
Suddenly Cardiff were very much back in the game but we managed to hold out for another few minutes till the sinners returned to action. Then we were at least able to see the match out, Slade having the last word by slotting a pen. Cardiff getting a guy binned before the end.
It was completely insane and ultimately a good advert for Heineken Cup rugby and despite our second half complacency we still had plenty of reasons to smile. The fact is, we are second in our group...and the only second placed team in the competition to have picked up a WBP already.
There’s a long way to go...but right now we’re on course for the Heineken Cup quarter finals!
Makes you smile doesn’t it?
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15/10/2013 19:43
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