Exeter Chiefs v London Welsh Preview
By Mark W-J
February 20 2013
The Premiership season now enters its final third, with just seven rounds of fixtures remaining to decide which team will drop down into the Championship. Sale’s victory over London Welsh at Oxford last weekend has given them a massive psychological lift, as well as boosting their points tally, while some observers feel that ninth-placed Worcester are in danger of being dragged into the equation.
Sunday’s result means that Welsh have now won only once in our last eleven matches in all competitions, including five consecutive league defeats. On Saturday afternoon we face Exeter at Sandy Park: the Chiefs are currently in eighth place in the table on 32 points, with six wins and a draw from their 15 fixtures. They’ve won just once on their travels, at London Irish in round nine, and back in mid-September became the first team to lose to the Welsh in the Premiership when we grabbed a 25-24 win with Seb Jewell’s conversion of Ed Jackson’s last-minute try. In fact, the home team has won this fixture on the last five occasions, with the last away win in the series occurring four years ago this week, when Exeter won 21-16 at ODP courtesy of a try four minutes from time from Rich Baxter. Furthermore, Exeter maintained the longest unbeaten home run in the Premiership this season, reeling-off five straight wins before drawing 12-12 with Bath over the Christmas period and falling to a shock 19-30 defeat to the woefully inconsistent Saints seven days later. Unfortunately for the Chiefs faithful, this poor run of form has continued on their travels in recent weeks, with a controversial 21-16 defeat at Sale a fortnight ago being followed by a 31-11 reverse at Saracens’ new Allianz Park last Saturday. Consequently, Exeter are also without a Premiership win in five outings since December 1st, when they beat Wasps 30-23 at Sandy Park, and although their run includes that draw with Bath it still represents their worst ever run in the Premiership. Furthermore, it is their longest run without a win since they lost seven in a row in National One between October 2000 and January 2001, including our last away win in the series, 24-18 at the County Ground on 28th October 2000. This will be the 33rd league meeting - we have played Exeter more than any of our 75 opponents in 570 fixtures over the last 26 years of league rugby - and the Chiefs have inflicted more defeats (21) on the Exiles than any other team.
Phil MacKenzie scoring of London Welsh's only
try against Sale last Sunday
As the two most recent additions to the Premiership roster, both clubs have attracted much support both from the neutral followers of the game and the established supporters who believe in the sanctity of promotion and relegation. One of the most vehement arguments put forward by proponents of ring-fencing is that the best players will always be picked-up by the top clubs; that the cream always rises to the top. Welsh and, in particular, Exeter, tend to disprove this particular theory. Our squad contains a number of players - Jon Mills, Matt Corker, Ed Jackson, Hudson Tonga’uiha, Nick Scott and Seb Jewell, to name just a handful - who had either been released by Premiership clubs and/or Welsh regions or even slipped through the net completely, and none of them were actively pursued by top-flight clubs during their time with Welsh in the second tier. Meanwhile, of the 33 players who have started a Premiership game for the Chiefs this season, around two thirds have played Championship rugby in the last four years, including at least 15 players who were in the Exeter squad in their promotion winning season. Last season, winger Matt Jess, who found his way to Sandy Park in 20085 following spells with the Pirates, Gwent Dragons and Launceston, played all 80 minutes of all 22 league fixtures, scoring six tries in the process. He missed the defeat at Sale a fortnight ago, bringing to an end a run of 3,120 minutes on the field dating back to April 2011.
The other oversight in the ringfencers’ argument is that a team is so much more than 15 (or 23) players; they are brought together as a team by the coach. And Rob Baxter is the perfect example of a coach who is operating at the highest level because he earned the right by winning promotion. Three years ago, with just one season’s experience at Exeter, he wouldn’t have been considered by Bath or Gloucester, for example, as the man to lead their team through the forthcoming Premiership campaign. But by winning the Championship play-offs at the first time of asking he earned the right to play with the big boys, and has proved quite adept at showing them how to play the game. Last season he won the Premiership Director of Rugby of the Year award after leading his team into the Heineken Cup in only their second season in the élite, and although they finished third in a very tough pool alongside holders Leinster and favourites Clermont Auvergne, they recorded home-and-away wins over the Scarlets as well as scaring the life out of the reigning champions in a 9-6 defeat in Dublin in the opening round. Their hopes of qualification for next season are hanging by a thread, as they currently sit nine points adrift of fifth-placed Gloucester, whom they entertain on the final weekend; a sixth place would become available through league qualification if either Harlequins or Saracens win the LV Cup next month.
Exeter's top points scorer Gareth Steenson
From a London Welsh perspective, the old clichés return in the form of every game being a cup final between now and the end of the season. Despite defeat to Sale last weekend, we remain three points clear of the Sharks and two ahead of our fellow Exiles. But momentum is certainly with Steve Diamond’s side as they gained revenge for our victory at Salford in September and secured their first away win of the season to record back-to-back league wins for the first time since last April. Both Sale and Welsh have to visit Reading in the final five rounds, as do Worcester, whose fixture list also looks fairly tough. Diamond stated last week that no team has ever avoided relegation after being bottom of the Premiership at Christmas, but Leeds achieved that feat just three years ago. At the halfway stage of the 2009-10 season they had collected a mere nine points, but post-Christmas they won six of their eleven league fixtures to overhaul both Worcester and Sale, finishing eight points clear of the relegated Warriors. The Midlands club, then coached by Mike Ruddock, had seventeen points in the bag at Christmas, but collected just one win - 13-0 against Newcastle - and a draw (their fourth of the season) in the second half of the campaign, while the Sharks only survived thanks to their win over Worcester in round 18, which saw them finish four points clear of the drop.
The stats suggest that Saturday’s game will not be one for the purists: two teams desperate to find some form, anxious to pick up points to put themselves back on an upward trajectory. Like Exeter, we’ve won only once on our travels this season, but Saturday’s game is the first of four consecutive away fixtures, from which we really need to start picking-up some points. Sale entertain Harlequins on Friday night before travelling to Welford Road eight days later, while Irish welcome the high-flying Wasps this weekend, followed by a trip to Northampton, and Worcester - the only club without an away win in the Premiership this season - pop down to Kingsholm on Saturday ahead of a visit from Wasps on Friday week. All potentially tough fixtures, and the fans of all four clubs are already scrutinising the fixture lists with pencils and calculators to hand, trying to predict all of the possible permutations. While Exeter should be safe from all these shenanigans, it’s a measure of how far they’ve come in three years that their bigger concern is whether Heineken Cup qualification is still in their grasp. Looking up rather than down is the order of the day, and Lyn tried to instil that same confidence in the Welsh squad last week ahead of the supposed ‘winner-takes-all’ clash with Sale with his comments about overhauling Worcester. Unfortunately, events on the day mean that we’re still looking over our shoulders, but one thing that we - and Exeter - have proved in our relatively brief Premiership careers is that nothing is ever out of the question.
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Match officials for Exeter Chiefs vs London Welsh
Referee: Andrew Small
Assistant referee 1: Andrew Pearce,
Assistant referee 2: Peter Huckle
4th official: Matthew Peters
Safe journey wherever you are heading.
Me and Mrs Chappers will be coming to SP and trying somehow to avoid hearing the result of the Wales match, will be my first visit to SP and really looking forward to it
Why are you going to Twickenham? What's happening there!
Surely the only action that really matters this weekend will be in ROME and SANDY PARK. PADDYTAF.
"GIVE THEM NO BALL OR BAD BALL WELSH"
Whisper it, but I'm one of these new English London Welsh fans.... We do exist....
Ah, now I can! Very strange.
I've got a seat in Row K West Grandtand North Upper and hope I won't need a telescope to see the match, as I think it's back row 10 seats from the corner of the stand (hopefully no pillar).
Given some Chiefs fans may be at Twickers or watching that match at home on TV (though the number of seats sold suggeste a pretty full ground), let's see if London Welsh can be heard giving support this match. We beat them at Kassam and can do so again - here's hoping.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013:02:21:14:46:19 by DanFW3.
Whisper it, but I'm one of these new English London Welsh fans.... We do exist....
from our previous home ODP there are/were many fans who are English, trust me you are not alone and do not have to whisper. All of yours and other supporters regardless of their nationality are very,very welcome and long may this be the case. After all RUGBY is RUGBY we all stand together. Enjoy your day at HQ. PADDYTAF.
"GIVE THEM NO BALL OR BAD BALL WELSH"
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013:02:22:09:28:33 by paddytaf.
Quote:DanFW3
Why cannot I see the Preview? This happened a week or so ago with the previous Preview too, but it then corrected itself.
Ah, now I can! Very strange.
I've got a seat in Row K West Grandtand North Upper and hope I won't need a telescope to see the match, as I think it's back row 10 seats from the corner of the stand (hopefully no pillar).
Given some Chiefs fans may be at Twickers or watching that match at home on TV (though the number of seats sold suggeste a pretty full ground), let's see if London Welsh can be heard giving support this match. We beat them at Kassam and can do so again - here's hoping.
Chiefs fan here, pretty much any seat in West has a reasonable view. Be aware though, that Sandy Park is very exposed and the forecast is windchilly. Wear plenty of layers
Have a great day.
If anyone is staying over go and have tea at Tea on the Green overlooking the cathedral - the owner/staff are Chiefs supporters and really friendly. I had a great conversation with him the other day. Its also a fantastic view and amazing tea and cakes.
Anyway, I believe that Welsh can win on Saturday and will certainly be keeping an eye on the score as much as the score from Rome.
Replacements: 16. Dan George, 17. Tom Bristow, 18. James Tideswell, 19. Martin Purdy, 20. Michael Hills, 21. Rob Lewis, 22. Gordon Ross*, 23. Sonny Parker*.
* Denotes full international
15 Luke Arscott 14 Jack Nowell 13 Sireli Naqelevuki 12 Jason Shoemark 11 Matt Jess 10 Gareth Steenson 9 Haydn Thomas
1 Carl Rimmer 2 Jack Yeandle 3 Hoani Tui 4 Tom Hayes (capt) 5 Dean Mumm 6 Ben White 7 James Scaysbrook 8 Richard Baxter
16 Neil Clark 17 Ben Moon 18 Alex Brown 19 Damian Welch 20 Dave Ewers 21 Will Chudley 22 Ignacio Mieres 23 Phil Dollman
Quote:DanFW3
Yes, Chiefs should beware of committing ANY penalties even 5-10 yards inside their own half - Gavin can punish like few others over long distance.
Due to the uniqueness of Sandy Park's Location the wind swirls around the hill and the ground. This on a windy day can make Sandy Park a complete kickers nightmare as many have found out.
Cough *Rory Clegg* Cough, Cough *Nicky Robinson* Cough, Cough *Owen Farrell* Cough....I think Iam coming down with something..
.. Hopefully my sudden cold clears up before tomorrow.. 
Anyway as I was saying, Kicking from over 50 meters at Sandy Park on a windy day is defiantly not recommended..
Ryan Davis described the wind here as multi-directional.
Anyway Safe trip down to Devon and hope you all enjoy the game.
EXETER has always been a very difficult place to win. Having said that we have had some epic encounters over the years. One that springs to mind was at their old county ground i believe in 1998, we were 16 nil down at half time but went on to win 17 16. (Never ever in doubt)
what a game that was which was played in horrendous conditions (great rugby by both sides) Oh happy days! PADDYTAF.
"GIVE THEM NO BALL OR BAD BALL WELSH"
Quote:adge1
First start for Yeandle ....up against Briggs...bon chance.
Tasty.
Quote:adge1
Backs look stronger than last week with Keats and Jewell starting.
They would be my prefered starters too , but thought Sonny had his best game of the season so far , last week.
Double ouch.
Personally I think that was one of our worst performances, not only the usual handling errors but too many missed/incompleted tackles. Gav did ok by his standards made a couple of great passes and few mistakes, got nailed a couple of times towards the end as we tried to run it more.
We turned them over a few times and then gave it straight back to them, on one ocaision leading to a try.
Briggsy's injury looked nasty and Nick Scott also got a stamp on the head which if it was seen will lead to a citing.
A long and expensive train journey there and back on a bitterly cold day and not much to cheer about, and a bit disappointed as I thought we could get something there.Nevermind better than festering around the house.
On the positive side I went to see Australian Pink Floyd in Bournemouth on the Friday night and they were VERY good.... But then I carried on along the coast to Exeter and it wasn't on the same level of enjoyment.....
It all started off positively I thought.. (although mostly from the boot) as each side kept giving the other an opportunity to kick for the sticks and allow Mr Small to warm up his whistle. A bit @#$%&-for-tat with a penalty to us, then a penalty to them, then a penalty for us, then a... (you get the idea) and both Henson and Steenson were on form with their kicking boots. Not exactly entertaining stuff but I was happy that we were level pegging...
Some great defending on the line by LW before Exeter found a gap and started their try feast.. and then it all went downhill. It wasn't as cold as I was expecting it to be, nor as windy, so that can't be used as an excuse for the handling errors (not that there that many - as Chappers says it was more down to poor passing) Henson had to collect several passes that landed by his ankles and for the most part he got them away but did get clattered with some big tackles while do so.
It was a disappointing performance I thought. There just wasn't a lot of penetration when we were throwing it around.
In stark contrast (once Exeter had got up a head of steam) they kept finding gaps. Those gaps appeared due in a large part to that great lump of a winger/centre they have in Naqelevuki who played at 13. 19st on him on the hoof took some pulling down....
When we had the ball we just seemed to be going sideways across the pitch or losing ground....
Losing Briggsy was key and the injury looked bad (Montanella was concerned) And I would also be interested to see if the stamp does get picked up at all. It happened just in front of me and whilst the Exe supporters muttered "it was accidental" it didn't look that way to me. Around he 60min mark Scott got a boot stamped square on the base of his skull as he was lying on the ground away from the immediate action... It was on the sideline furthest from the coaching staff so might not have been seen at the time and the big screen didn't show it
One odd thing was the ref was unexpectedly replaced by the fourth official and this led to a gap in play while this was sorted ou. The ref didn't look to have picked up an injury though. Don't know what he does as a proper day job but I suspect he got an urgent call to work (either that or he hadn't told his wife he was reffing today and she turned up and dragged him off....)
Quote:dottigirlQuote:adge1
First start for Yeandle ....up against Briggs...bon chance.
Tasty.
Realy Realy tasty
Quote:We were about 5-10 yards behind itright on the front row of the terrace and everyone around me saw it (all Exeter apart from me and Mrs chappers)and had the same reaction that it was deliberate most of their fans thought he would be cited for it.metalman
. Hope not the case as didnt think they played that way. Hope briggs is ok
Quote:There were enough supporters that saw it that's for sure, as it was separate from the immediate play and close to the touchline (and at SP you're very close to the pitch). It looked deliberate to me. With the type of movement made with his foot to the head I'm sure If boot was on the other foot (no pun intended) I would have thought the Exe support would have let their feeling known....chappersQuote:We were about 5-10 yards behind itright on the front row of the terrace and everyone around me saw it (all Exeter apart from me and Mrs chappers)and had the same reaction that it was deliberate most of their fans thought he would be cited for it.metalman
. Hope not the case as didnt think they played that way. Hope briggs is ok
Wasn't entirely sure who carried out the stamp... Perhaps if there was a forensic check on the stud marks to the back of Scott's head they might find it was their No12 Jason Shoemark (see what I did there....) But looking on the Exe site it looks like it was their No 7 James Scaysbrook
Not really taking away from the result however, as we just weren't at the races on the day.....
Scays may have stamped on Nick Scott but I doubt if it was deliberate. Exeter have the best disciplinary record in the Prem and have sometimes frustrated me by not being sufficiently "streetwise" by comparison with Northampton Sinners or Saracens in particular.
The Yeandle/Briggs contest was won hands down by Yeandle. Not only was the Exe scrum all over the Welsh one but the lineout was flawless, something that hasn't been the case much of the time and Yeandle got his first try and MOM award on his debut. That said I hope Briggs' injury is not as serious as it appeared. It looked very nasty as he came off.
I thought both sides looked prety clueless for the first half but when Exe stepped it up after the interval Welsh had no answer to the greater pace and precision and the Welsh players looked pretty out on their feet in the last 15 minutes, which was when Henson took some heavy punishment and also seemed to just run across field looking to create something when it wasn't there.
All credit however to Welsh for playing to the very end even when they had nothing to get out of the game at all (I doubt if relegation will be decided on points difference) and good luck for the rest of the season.
Having had to put a team together in such a ridiculously short space of time I personally think you should have been exempt from relegation this year.
"Wu're doooo-med! Doomed I tell ta!!"
Triple ouch.