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First to go? Sale 17 - 23 Exe but I could be wrong!

Exeter Chiefs

15 Josh Hodge

14 Immanuel Feyi-Waboso

13 Henry Slade

12 Will Rigg

11 Olly Woodburn

10 Harvey Skinner

9 Will Becconsall

1 Scott Sio

2 Jack Yeandle

3 Ehren Painter

4 Dafydd Jenkins (c)

5 Christ Tshiunza

6 Ross Vintcent

7 Richard Capstick

8 Greg Fisilau

Replacements:

16 Dan Frost

17 Danny Southworth

18 Marcus Street

19 Lewis Pearson

20 Jack Dunne

21 Stu Townsend

22 Will Haydon-Wood

23 Zack Wimbush

Sale Sharks:

15. Joe Carpenter,
14. Tom Roebuck
13. Rob du Preez,
12. Manu Tuilagi,
11. Tom O’Flaherty,
10. George Ford,
9. Gus Warr,
1. Bevan Rodd,
2. Luke Cowan-Dickie,
3. James Harper,
4. Cobus Wiese,
5. Josh Beaumont,
6. Ernst van Rhyn,
7. Ben Curry ©,
8. JL du Preez.

Replacements:
16. Tommy Taylor,
17. Ross Harrison,
18. Asher Opoku-Fordjour,
19. Ben Bamber,
20. Hyron Andrews,
21. Sam Dugdale,
22. Raffi Quirke,
23. Sam James.

Match Officials


Referee: Hamish Smales

ARs: Christophe Ridley & Jonathan Healy

TMO: Dean Richards

Weather Forecast as at midday Friday

Sunny intervals and a gentle breeze from the east
Temperature 14 degrees but will feel like 13 degrees
Low Chance of Precipitation

TV Coverage

Channel 408 TNT Sports 1 SD from 1430-1715
Channel 430 TNT Sports 1 HD from 1430-1715
Channel 003 ITV1 SD from 1430 to 1730
Channel 103 ITV1 HD from 1430 to 1730

Going to be a tough match, but with Christ and Daffy back in the scrum plus RossV i am hoping we can grab a win. Sharks 24 Chiefs 25

Sale 31 - 22 Chiefs I hope I'm wrong. Chiefs don't travel well.

Think we could nick this, Sale 23 - 29 Chiefs

Sale 24 Chiefs 31

This will come down to the bench’s, Both starting line ups are evenly matched

Really hoping for a chiefs win but quite apprehensive, They have some quality jackalers and interpretation of the breakdown by the refs will be critical. Too many penalties with Ford in their side a worry. They are both strong sides. Will need to keep Flats quiet. Could well be some cards in this match with this ref - Likely at breakdown or Tuillagi no arms or high tackle. I think this is a key match for us 2 points essential and four/five much better.Win this and I am hopeful of our top four. Lose and may have to battle for a top 6. Heart - Chiefs 31 Sale 28

Sale 20 Chiefs 30.

Sale 21 chiefs 25

Sale 18 Chiefs 23

Sale 26 Chefs 21

We are missing at lot of power in the back 5 of the pack so it could be tough watching against the driving maul, but it can see us scoring points if we play an attacking offloading game.
Our away form is poor so a lbp and or try bp would be a positive.
Sales 38 Chiefs 27.

Will Rigg ahead of Devoto and Hawkins? perhaps they are injured. vital game to get some points in.

Quote:

Seaside Chief
Will Rigg ahead of Devoto and Hawkins? perhaps they are injured. vital game to get some points in.

Or perhaps the coaches see the potential in him? He looks very exciting.

It will be physical, me thinks, hopeful we will get something from the game:
Sale 28 - 25 Exeter

Tough on RT to be completely dropped. Ford vs Skinner, fear our lack of quality at 10 will tell. LBP 28 - 24 to Sale.

It will be a tough game but I think we need the win more than Sale.

Sharks 18 23 Chiefs

Young but very mobile back row against a strong and seasoned Sale three, could be decisive. Looking forward to seeing Rigg starting. We are clearly rotating players with both Tuima and Vermeulen out of the squad. Going to be a tough ask but going wit Chiefs 31 Sale 27.

Sale 24 - Chiefs 28

Calling out Harvey before the game is ridiculous, we've done ok so far this season, let's wait and see what happens FFS! Also Sale could still make the top 4 so arguably they "need the win" just as much if not more than we do!

That's a good looking bench. Despite JV and RT being rested, I think we have enough to take the game to them. They're all - both sides - looking to impress, but I feel the additional pressure on Sharks will be detrimental and ultimately telling ... but I've been wrong once or twice before!!
Sale 22 Chiefs 31

In Rob we trust.
By the way - cream on first. There's nothing to debate.

I’ll go Sale 19 Ex 24. Vintcent and Fisilau in the same back row looks quick and entertaining but lightweight, I hope we have enough ooomph to stop rolling mauls.

With our pack back 5 average age of 21, I hope the front row can keep up! If we keep the penalty count down we can win this. Relying on having a better second half this week. Sale 27 Chiefs 30



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2024:03:30:16:47:11 by Currychef.

Think their pack may give them a significant advantage,,a bonus point will be a decent outcome. Sale 20 Chiefs 16.

Chiefs 26, Sharks 22

Sale25 Chiefs 23

After today’s results both sides will want the win and l feel it will be close. Statistically we do have a good record against Sale but our away record is a bit shaky. Sale will not want to repeat the Nil we sent them home with at the start of the season.
Just hope I’m wrong Sharks 27 - 25 Chiefs.

No idea on this one! Predictions in this run in are increasingly hard. Think we have the pace to trouble Sale if we can partly match them up front. About the only think I feel safe in predicting is that Sale won't turn into a Quins/Bris run it from anywhere team!
No result would really surprise me! Sale 30 Chiefs 19 hope my usual pessimistic view is wrong!!

Relatively hopeful on this one.
Discipline is key imo.
Tactics are fairly obvious from both teams.
Sale have picked a big heavy pack,we have gone for a lighter more mobile pack so presume we are going to try to move them around.
As someone above has mentioned maul time would worry me as does their front row replacements versus ours.
If it was due to be wet I would be very concerned but forecast looks ok so fingers crossed 🤞

Looks like a strong team and this is an important fixture so Chiefs to edge it
Chiefs 31 Sale 24

Sale 24 Chiefs 26

Sale 28 - 26 Chiefs. Hoping I'm wrong!

Lots of unforced errors so far and Sale getting all the breaks . We seem to be upsetting the ref too!

Ref is c--p

Can someone help me understand how a one handed slap down knock on by Tuilagi is nothing but a 2 handed attempt to catch by Hodge is yellow?
Professional official should never get that wrong
Very very poor referee

Stupid penalties and a one-eyed referee costing us! Never a yellow!

Must remember to avoid a yellow don’t try and catch an interception with two hands, just slap it down.

I think both the less experienced refs, whom I have seen this weekend, have been "Homers". That said it isn't Smales who is giving away the stupid penalties, though he definitely stopped Stu scoring when the ball bounced off him.

From a neutral this ref is shocking - officiating in general seems to be going rapidly down-hill ... I mean some of them can't even tell the time ...

Yup Chiefs have been poor and would have lost anyway but pro refs should be better

With all due respect to our 9s and 10s the fact is we aren’t controlling games and every other top 8 team has at least an international 9 or 10 … it shows sadly

Harvey had clearly been identified as the "ideal" recipient of Sale's box kicks.

Quote:

clalan
Must remember to avoid a yellow don’t try and catch an interception with two hands, just slap it down.

100%

For me the turning point of this season was when we were 26-0 up against Saints. From that point our season has unravelled, we won by a point against Glasgow, after thinking we’d lost, thrashed at Bayonne, beaten in the last 20 minutes at Sarries, beaten at Glos, an unconvincing win against bottom team Falcons last week, and now this thrashing at Sale. We looked stale and slow, always a yard behind every move from Sale. My other half and I were discussing potential travel plans for the European quarters, but if we play like we did today, we wont need to make any travel plans.

Feeling very deflated.

Really wish LCD had gone to France, to many Sale players in exactly the right place to stop a move in the forwards. Scrum did well, and they did deserve to win, but I think many of our coaching moves were known and prepared for.
Add to silly mistakes and it seemed a team of strangers and it’s a bad day.

The inconsistent idiosyncrasies of the referee did not lose us the game. We allowed Sale to dominate the collisions which put them on the front foot and Ford ran the game beautifully as a result.
Regrettably Woodburn’s complete lack of pace over more than 25 metres was shown up yet again, as was the lack of pace of our starting front row.
The game has changed and some pace is an essential element in every position. Perhaps that is why Gray has yet to be seen this season?
Our starting back 5 was very lightweight and with the motivation with them Sale were always likely to make it an uncomfortable afternoon.
Before the Newcastle match I opined to Mrs D that we might well win only that game from the 5 in our run in. I can still see that happening so we could well finish 8th this season. I don’t see us getting past Bath’sexpensively assembled selection in either game, and Quins are our Kryptonite. Last game of the season at Leicester anyone? I am still bearing the scars of last season!

To many players went missing in action today. Stupid mistakes from senior players and no real game plan let us down.

We can’t keep saying we are a young team. Many of the youngsters are either full,A or u20 internationals. IMO the captain should still be Jack Y with Dafyd his number 2



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2024:03:31:20:43:22 by Chief Fire Water.

Quote:

Lowerwatha
Stupid penalties and a one-eyed referee costing us! Never a yellow!

Also Ben Curry won a penalty when he clearly came in at the side of the ruck and when he picked the ball up he was facing his own team.

Next, IFW was done for blocking/pushing a sale player chasing a kick. But Ford got away with pushing Slade has he ran past before Slade was done pushing another sale player in the back.

Likewise, it was not a knock on when the ball came off the head of Flats, but when we had a lineout and our lock brought the ball down onto Capsticks head in the maul it was given as a knock on, our lock facing our team so he could not not knock it forward?

Whenever I see people saying 'the ref didn't lose us the game ...' and then list their team's faults, I'm reminded of a conversation I had with an acquaintance of my brother in law. He (not my BIL) is a professional (& international) rugby player.

He said that once the ref starts making decisions against you that you either don't agree with or even understand, it's very difficult to play your natural game because, in effect, you don't know what you're going to be penalised for, especially if it appears to be one rule for them and another for us.

Interesting comment OTH. Rather chimes with Rob's comment in the Grauniad yesterday regarding about the mind/mental aspect of matches.

Just found out that Hamish Smales used to play for Sale Sharks!!🤔 Just saying...😏

Luke Pearce was an assistant referee, what a waste!

Can't believe some of the comments on here and on the Leadership thread!

Yes,the Yellow Card was inconsistent when compared to Tuillagi's non-yellow (and Woodburn's non-yellow later on), but to imply the ref's all-round performance cost you defeat in a 41-5 match is laughable!

You barely made it into the Sale 22 all game and gave away umpteen mindless penalties. Even RB said as much in his in-game interview! In point of fact, the officials missed as many of your offences as they did of Sale's on the day.

Accept you were well-beaten by a better prepared team, who wanted it more, and who played better in virtually all aspects of the game. It happens to all teams but to imply a 36pt difference is down to refereeing decisions, as some seem to be doing, is laughable to say the least!

Chris1850 - I think you're being a little disingenuous. Perhaps your visit to the site was to actually find something to comment on?
In actual fact, most people here conceded the fact Chiefs were well beaten on the day, as were Sale on their visit to Sandy Park earlier in the season. However, the suggestion was mooted for discussion that the effects on poor decisions, particularly when your back is against the wall, could play on the minds of players effecting their performance. Discussion point - not declaration of fact.
BTW - Chiefs still win on aggregate! 😉 Best wishes for the rest of the season.

In Rob we trust.
By the way - cream on first. There's nothing to debate.

I have to say that I think Chris1850’s point of view is entirely valid! There is no doubt that Sale comprehensively outplayed us. For whatever reason, they were better prepared and hungrier than us and they put in the best performance I’ve seen from them all season, whilst we put in our worst. Lots of people have commented on the referee’s performance and I agree that from our perspective it seemed poor. However, there’s a clear vicious circle. Sale put us under pressure from the outset and we immediately started giving away needless penalties, leading to Tom Roebuck’s first try after 9 minutes which only increased the pressure. No doubt the players were already beginning to feel hard done by at this point and inevitably more penalties followed, largely because they failed to take a moment to do a reset and play to the referee, and this will have been blindingly obvious to Mr Smales. Sale took advantage of our inability to get our act together and continued to put us under pressure. By the time Josh got his yellow in the 34th minute we were well on our way down the spiral. Many of us probably hoped that half time would give the coaches to reset the team, but Roebuck’s second try soon after restart pretty much killed that. Manny’s try might have given us a glimmer of hope that we could pull off one of our trademark recoveries, but I’m afraid it turned out to be a flash in a pan full of sludge…
I really enjoy my visits to the Salford Community Stadium, but I’m glad I didn’t make the trip up on Sunday to see our team perform so badly. Equally I’m hoping that Sale’s performance might encourage a few more supporters to go and watch them, because their attendance figures are looking worryingly low for such a good side. Whether either side can make it to the playoffs remains to be seen!

Quote:

ouch!_that_hurts
He said that once the ref starts making decisions against you that you either don't agree with or even understand, it's very difficult to play your natural game because, in effect, you don't know what you're going to be penalised for, especially if it appears to be one rule for them and another for us.

Interesting point. I think you saw a great example of that in the Bears win over Saints. Lawes got pinged off the ball at the breakdown (rightly so) and yet not only did he fail to adapt he kept on going back in, arguably to the detriment of the rest of his game.

I know it's something that's said, often in frustration after the game (and often by me!) but I think it's pretty rare that a referee referees sides substantially differently. Ofc there will be moments in a game when played back look similar but say he penalised your team for holding on but let the opposition get away with one almost identical. Not ideal but very different from consistently applying different standards.

Interesting to read Baxters comments about analysis and it's lack of value after this game.
Not sure I agree but then one if us has won a double and a Prem title and once of us hasn't!!

Quote:

OldMarovian

Quote:

ouch!_that_hurts
He said that once the ref starts making decisions against you that you either don't agree with or even understand, it's very difficult to play your natural game because, in effect, you don't know what you're going to be penalised for, especially if it appears to be one rule for them and another for us.

Interesting point. I think you saw a great example of that in the Bears win over Saints. Lawes got pinged off the ball at the breakdown (rightly so) and yet not only did he fail to adapt he kept on going back in, arguably to the detriment of the rest of his game.

I know it's something that's said, often in frustration after the game (and often by me!) but I think it's pretty rare that a referee referees sides substantially differently. Ofc there will be moments in a game when played back look similar but say he penalised your team for holding on but let the opposition get away with one almost identical. Not ideal but very different from consistently applying different standards.

Interesting to read Baxters comments about analysis and it's lack of value after this game.
Not sure I agree but then one if us has won a double and a Prem title and once of us hasn't!!

One thing I would add, OM, is that the player concerned also said that some players will 'test' the ref again to see if they get the same outcome - it's part of the learning process, I guess. Presumably, you're not going to do it with attempted interceptions too often, but jackling is probably an ideal opportunity.

I must admit that in the case of the Sale game, I don't have a big problem with officiating except the different handling of the Tuilagi/Hodge incidents. The fact that Woodburn was then 'let off' makes me wonder if the ref (or officiating team as a whole, as it seemed to be the TMO that let Woody off) realised they'd ref'd the incidents somewhat differently.

Good points OTH. That was part of the genius of McCaw. He would test, test, get penalised then adapt and test in a different way.

Agree about Woodburn. IF Hodges was a card (it wasn't IMO) then Woodburns is too and Tuilagis was a super card!