15 Josh Hodge
14 Dan John
13 Rory O’Loughlin
12 Ian Whitten
11 Olly Woodburn
10 Joe Simmonds
9 Jack Maunder
1 Scott Sio
2 Jack Yeandle
3 Harry Williams
4 Jack Dunne
5 Ruben Van Heerden
6 Dave Ewers
7 Lewis Pearson
8 Jacques Vermeulen
Replacements
16 Jack Innard
17 Alec Hepburn
18 Josh Iosefa-Scott
19 Dafydd Jenkins
20 Ruis Tuima
21 Sam Maunder
22 Will Becconsall
23 Sean O’Brien
Northampton Saints’ only defeat in their last six first team matches was 14-27 on their visit to Bath in Round 7 of Gallagher Premiership Rugby. The Saints have lost just once in any competition at cinch Stadium since Exeter last visited in February: 21-41 to Leicester Tigers in September.
Exeter Chiefs have won only one of their last four Gallagher Premiership Rugby fixtures: 50-14 at Bristol Bears in Round 5. The Chiefs have won only two of their last seven away games in Premiership Rugby.
The last five meetings between the two clubs in Premiership Rugby have incredibly been won by the away side on the day. Chiefs have won on four of their last five visits to Franklin’s Gardens.
Will be an interesting game. Would like to have seen Innard and O'Brien start this one. We need to see how we go without Whitts and Yeandle, and think would still be very evenly matched. Great servants to the club but both arguably past their best. Hopefully plenty of time for both from the bench to stake a claim for selection against London Irish. Also really hope we get to see Will Becconsall get a few minutes. He is looking promising. Would be good to see Tuima get a good half hour from the bench too. We will lose some of these youngsters if they don't get a look in.
Can't believe Jack Maunder is starting again. He slows our play so much and blunts the attack. I had hoped we would evolve our game plan this year but I'm giving up on that.
dwhite805 Can't believe Jack Maunder is starting again. He slows our play so much and blunts the attack. I had hoped we would evolve our game plan this year but I'm giving up on that.
Can't see us winning this, to many holes plugged in that team. Saints have a stronger bench. Would have liked Innard to start and Frost on the bench. Saints 31 - 22 Chiefs. Hope i'm wrong.
A bit like last season down to the bare bones after 6 games !
Schickerling again not in our 23 and not on our injured list - staggering I can only assume he has decided to go somewhere else next season.
I rate them as seriously better than us from 11 through 15 with the starting packs roughly equal. If we have an advantage it's in the half backs but we need enough ball to give them something to work with and we need to get the ball to John and Hodge who have the speed and vision to do something with it. I fear though that what ball we do get will stagnate in midfield and another set of opportunities will be wasted.
As mentioned above past form has given us a close fought win at ‘the gardens’. I hope it will still be close but like last week, I’m going for a home team win.
Not Manichean Whitts seems to have become like a flask of Nitroglycerin. Undroppable. I have a huge amount of time and respect for him, but surprised by no Kata.
Jack M remains like the proverbial pot of marmite. Hopefully he links well with Joe. We know it has worked in the past.
I remain eternally optimistic (although that is getting harder).
23- 27 to Ex
Im not suprised by Kata not in. Isnt he away with Tonga?
Worried about their bench but they did try this ploy against us at SP a couple of seasons ago but it backfired because we had an unassailable lead by halftime. If we cand stay with them for an hour we could sneak this one Chiefs 29 Saints 27.
Can’t see why this team cannot give Saints a game, good team Saints are they haven’t been a Sale or Sarries. Not saying we will win but more confident against them than some others.
Saint 21 - Chiefs 28
Not Manichean Whitts seems to have become like a flask of Nitroglycerin. Undroppable. I have a huge amount of time and respect for him, but surprised by no Kata.
Jack M remains like the proverbial pot of marmite. Hopefully he links well with Joe. We know it has worked in the past.
I remain eternally optimistic (although that is getting harder).
23- 27 to Ex
Im not suprised by Kata not in. Isnt he away with Tonga?
Leicester showed that if you can duff up Saints up front then you may have a winning strategy despite the delightful patterns their backs can conjure.
Can we do it and will our set piece hold up?
I have doubts about our back line , particularly the centre combination. I accept that Whitts is mr dependable and dropping a snarling angry Irishman may be risky for one’s health, but the inevitable march of old Father Time is affecting him and at least two forwards- Yeandle and Williams- so we need to start taking some risks and giving the youngsters some game time.
I am hugely enthused by John, Hodge and Beaconsall and hope they can do the business tomorrow.
Think we will be beaten up there the team are not good enough . Hate to say it but saints 38 chiefs17 Hope i am wrong but with so many out or injured franklins is a hard place.
I reckon that 7 of those starters wouldn't make a full strength matchday XXIII. That is the scale of the issues that we face at present. Probably only 5 are first choice players playing in their best positions. Playing Premiership games in International windows is madness given the attrition rate that the game imposes on player health these days. Reducing the size of the Premiership, perhaps to two conferences of 8 each, would be a huge step in the right direction IMO.
Chiefs are never easy and have a good record at The Gardens. Despite the absentees, you guys will have a big pack and I would guess you will play to your usual strengths. We don’t do low scoring games so you will score tries…..just a question of how many Saints can produce with a fast set of backs. Looking forward to it !
I see Kata played for Tonga v French Barbarians last week - quite surprising considering it was outside the international window - so assume he's in their squad this week. Like many, I find it annoying that we have to play during the international window. What's worse this season is that because of the loss of Wasps and Warriors, some teams are getting a nice rest during the AI's and, unless PRL changes the fixture list, the 6N.
Anyway, all moaning aside, Saints at FG is always going to be a tough match but they do have a quite leaky defence. Solely on those grounds, I have a little optimism so will go for a narrow Chiefs win, 27 - 30.
We are missing quite a few players particularly in the back five of the scrum and I worry, as always, about our centres. I am actually pleased JM is playing - and I like marmite. I agree about the speed of his pass but our kicking must be spot on with their set of dangerous backs. He is by far the best kicking scrum half we have - O'Driscoll commented on it and he regularly has kicked to make the ball contestable giving the opposition no space to counterattack - essential against Saints. If we are to win it will be the forwards. I would prefer Innard instead of Yendle. Harry is still our best scrummaging T/H with Street injured. Starve their backs of possession, get scrum dominance and win our lineouts in the key positions; stay on the right side of the ref and with our pack we could sneak it. They are missing Ludlam, Ribbans, Lawes, Augustus and Biggar - it gives me hope. Chiefs 37 Saints 32. If we leak lots of possession from whatever cause we could lose heavily.
On the basis i need to do a lot of catching up, I will go for a tight Chiefs win 27 - 23 Saints.. everything crossed, should be a good and hopefully exciting game.
I actually think we'll do ok! I accept last week's performance was poor, but Gloucester are a good side at home on that pitch and they were also missing fewer players.
Saints look quite lightweight to me, very few big ball carriers and no crash ball centre. What they do have is some quick footed and skillful backs. We must deny them quick ball, commit bodies to the breakdown and compete for the ball. If we can deny them quick ball I think we'll win. If we don't we could concede a lot of points.One thing this game won't be is a low scoring slugfest! Saints 26 Chiefs 31
No optimism here, I'm afraid. Much as I would love a win I think their bench will run riot.
Mrs PC Saints 31 Chiefs 26
PC Saints 35 Chiefs 24
Will be very interested to see how Becconsall and O'Brien go if they get a decent time ion the poitch.
I do hope I'm wrong but going for head over heart. We are away from home and a lot of change again in the line up. If they all gel and Saints have been down the pub all week, I will be way off the mark!
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2022:11:04:17:26:23 by Currychef.
Well played Saints.
We have found our level and that is bottom half of table
If the international break and its disruption is a surprise to us then we need a big rethink.
Also if this squad is being paid up to the salary cap then major surgery is needed as it has no balance for the seasons requirements and numerous senior players represent poor value for money.
Accepting a rebuild season upon season having been at the top table is not the mentality of a champion club or organisation. We should not be so comfortable or accepting or having slipped so far
Thought the team did better than i expected, experience told in the end but some major surgery is needed if we are to complete for silverware. sorry to lose woody its only going to make it harder. Big Dave, sio ,verneamen, van Hersdon did well but we need more than them to step up including the coach.
Pre match I thought Saints backs could possibly carve us up if they were allowed to play their normal free running style. Looking at their back 5 absentees - Ribbans, Coles, Lawes, Ludlam, Augustus - I felt we may well have a big advantage there
But no. As Dowson said post game they played a different game than we’d probably planned for. We didn’t expect their kicking game, nor their counter rucking.
No on field leadership, no change to plan B and a penalty count (CM-K reffing aside) that ultimately and predictably led to another defeat.
To hear Hepher churn out the usual cliches seems almost akin to writing off the season as a ‘transition’ year.
On the plus side Hodge, John, Beaconsall had moments tho I do wonder what the likes of Big Dave, Vermeulen, Van Heerden, Sio must be thinking when they go to the well so often only to see no reward for their efforts.
We lost another game that could have been won with a bit of luck and some odd calls that went against us. The injury count worries me, not sure if is in training, on field or conditioning. People moaning about the size of our squad, but a load are Uni or Academy kids, so not a big impact on the wage bill. Not sure why we did not use our backs more, as it was most probably the most pace we have had all season! Thought O'Brien did ok and hope he is given a run. Perhaps Frost could give us some turnover ball?
Pessimists won the day as far as predictions went! Another very disappointing result as is very clear from the many posts made this weekend! Not much change here!
23 Points: Ouch that hurts; Bold Eagle;
22 Points: Dumnoniinomad;
20 points: Cornwall Chief; Mike the Shirt; Scottish Chief;
18 Points: Andy15.1; Alain le Chief; Rowancroft73;
17 Points: Osmium; Currychef; Hankey; Lowerwatha;
16 Points: Keithbar54; Plympton Chief; Moosechief;
15 Points: Cully Chief; Ex58; Big Chief Little Chief; ExTedd Chief
13 Points; Not Manichean; Chief Firewater;
12 Points: Broken Arrow;
11 Points: Stokecanon; Fisher; Lapo;
10 Points: Ljs399; Mrs PC;
9 Points: Clalan;
8 Points: Exeterfan;
6 Points: Whiptonchief;
4 Points: Last of the Beercans; Minuteman
2 Points: Seaside Chief; Chief Bert;
Irish at home next Saturday. Perhaps some of the young lads who at least showed enterprise will be given another go!
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