London Irish
A Tale of Opposites
By MickeyMouse
October 14 2014
The noise was palpable, Irish pound against the Exeter line. The few Irish fans that made the long trip are turning our corner of the SW Comms stand into the atmosphere of the Mad Stad. Irish move the ball left, right with power and poise it looks innevitable Exeter will break. Then a moment of Magic, Cowan scoops up the ball and slips through a defender and dots the ball down, COME ON YOU IRISH!! 44-70 to Irish, with ten minutes to go, the result was not in doubt. Then the scoreboard keeper realised his error. 44-10 to Exeter, this was a thumping.
As I checked my calendar on Friday evening I realised I had absolutely nothing to do over the weekend and the weather was looking pretty cracking so a quick call to my Rugby buddies and I found a fellow who's up for the long drive down to Exeter. I had been once before the season Exeter were promoted as I was convinced they were going to drop back down again and wanted to see their stadium before they did! We narrowly beat them that day, but Exeter were a great team and deservedly stayed up and have been a force in the Premiership ever since.
Exeter is further away than I thought! We left early as we had no tickets and no idea where to go so left loads of time. We arrived at the M5 junction a little before 1300, the parking was well signposted so headed down there. A very reasonably £5 to park and a short bus ride and we arrived on site. The weather was indeed fantastic, if a little windy but great conditions for running Rugby.
The ticket office asked where we'd like to sit "with the Irish fans" I replied! A very reasonable £27 per person is exchange and we're parked and in the ground before 1315, sorted!
The first thing I notice in the ground is the rather large bar under the West Stand, with toilets and tables to prop up against and outside we have what looked like the entire Irish support sat out in the sun with their drinks, not an Exeter fan to be seen! A walk around the back of the South Stand and there are a number of bars serving up local ales, there appear to be 3 or 4 to choose from and are well stocked. There's also a tent up that's serving curry! I do quite enjoy the Chicken Balti pie at the Mad Stad, but you can have a curry anywhere! Further round on the corner of the East and West there's a further bar and a Hog Roast, we seem well served for food and drink here.
We head back to the sunny corner of the South West and get a very quickly served beer, including Exeter Chief's very own Ale! We also get the largest Pasty I have ever seen, which was absolutely fantastic. The staff are all very friendly and efficient. Their facilities are absolutely top notch and you can sense the pride the supporters have of their own facilities with their own club.
Now you may think I'm waffling a bit here, and you'd be right. As I sit down in our corner of the South Stand I realise I've not seen a game of Rugby end on before and after this match I hope I never do again! The angle of the south stand is very shallow and thus depth perception is based on player heights rather than lines and other point of reference. With the smallest Rugby player being around the 5'8 mark and the tallest around the 6'6, this was easier said than done!
Onto the match. As the team is announced, all players' sponsors are announced and the Tomahawk chant (or whatever it's called) starts ringing out, what an atmosphere! Everything is set, we have all the ingredient for fast running rugby! Kick Off
After an initial bit of ping pong, the ball ends up with a defensive line out to Exeter, somewhere in our half, I think it was in our 22, but honestly, I couldn't tell you. Three times Chiefs batter our lines, three times we turnover the ball and clear our lines. Our defence was solid all Chiefs have for their efforts is a penalty, taken by Steenson, sponsored by Centrax.
We kick off and Chiefs eventually infringe after a bit of left and right action offering a kickable penalty to our own Twinkle Toes, Shane Geraghty. The kick is true and it's honours evens.
Chiefs Kick Off and shortly after get an attacking lineout, again somewhere between the half way line and the try line. The ball flies off the top to their Scrum Half, Chudley, sponsored by RGB Building Supplies, who passes to Rimmer, sponsored by Britannia Lanes. He sails past a huge hole in our midfield and easily dots the ball down next to the post. An easy conversion for Steenson, sponsored by Centrax, sees the score 10-3 after 16 minutes. It's still all to play for!
Unfortunately, I don't see much of the ball as play quickly ends up somewhere between the half way line and out try line for a long period of time. After Irish's initial excellent defence Exeter seem to have figured out how to exploit it and are making mini breaks almost at will. The inevitable occurred as Slade, sponsored by Ashfords Solicitors, ran a sublime line straight through our defence and Exeter had their second. Steenson, sponsored by Centrax, picking up the extras. 17-3 and we are starting to get a little worried. A couple of penalties for Exeter and it's looking worse.
Irish are not having much time with the ball, penalties are a theme of the game as well as handling errors, but even without these Irish do not look threatening. From nowhere Nowell, sponsored by Lugets, makes a huge break, but he has a lot to do as our scramble defence tracks him down he passes inside to Welch, sponsored by Rawle Gammon Baker and Exeter have another try. 30-3 at half time. This certainly has been a great day for attacking running rugby, unfortunately for the home team.
Half time. We pop along to the Hog Roast for a quick bite, now I'll be honest, I've never had a Hog Roast at the Mad Stad, but this was sublime! Perfectly cooked pork, tasty juicy stuffing, and wonderfully crispy crackling. Unfortunately the only sauces were ketchup and brown - could have done with some BBQ, but this was great!
Anyway, there was a match to watch. I was praying to the gods that I saw no Rugby in the second half. At all. Irish seem to make a number of changes at half time, Short, Leo and Cowan are on the pitch. Cowan in particular a man on a mission, Irish were more in control and able to hold on to the ball longer we were looking much more cohesive, but 27 points down. Irish look competitive and we have a good 15 minute spell. Exeter eventually retain control unfortunately and Welch, sponsored by Rawle Gammon Baker runs through what felt like everyone in an Irish shirt and Exeter have their bonus point try.
Unfortunately, Nowell, sponsored by Lugets goes on another blinding run breaking tacklers at will, he's eventually brought down but not before a sublime offload to Armand, sponsored Watson Fuels. Exeter are now 44-3 to the good with barely 20 minutes to go.
At this point Exeter clearly switched off and an exhibition match kicked off, there were tries from Cowan and Fenby, a couple of excellent breaks from Fenby and Nowell, sponsored by Lugets, but the result was never in doubt. Irish were well and truly beaten
This match exposed many differences between the two clubs. Exeter have fantastic facilities and a true sense of identity. The team is clearly well drilled and are playing good attractive rugby. Exeter have a number of good players, but no true stars, Nowel, sponsored by Lugets was never in contention for the England wing position until all the injuries earlier this year in that position. There is also a lot of noise around Slade, sponsored by Ashfords Solicitors, but his traditional fly half slot he will struggle to get ahead of George Ford and Owen Farrell and in the midfield position he is playing now it seems every Premiership team has a 12 knocking at the door of England. Arguably Exeter's big name is their summer signing of Thomas Waldrom, sponsored by The Una Group.
This Exeter Team reminded me of our 2006-2007 squad where we have a bunch of people from our academy, Geraghty, Armitage, Ojo, Paice, Thorpe underpinned by a number of signings who (at the time) we'd never heard of. Flutey, Leguizamon, Mapasua, Stanniforth. Our only household name at the time being Mike Catt. Smith pushed this team onto great things, after the great performances and results of the opening 5 games, this will ground us and we can lick our wounds and learn our lessons and push on.
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Stumbleupon14/10/2014 11:46
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Glad you enjoyed your day at SP, even if the rugby was not so good from an LI point of view.
I'll post a link to it on the Tribe.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014:10:14:18:26:46 by fatheralice.
Faugh-a-Ballagh!
"Our prayer is 'God save Ireland' and pour blessings on her name!"
Vestigia Nulla Retrorsum
