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Exeter keep two of their Six Nations contingent on the bench despite 14 changes to their XV to play Lyon
Defending Heineken Champions Cup champions Exeter have made 14 changes to their round of 16 XV to face Lyon on Saturday but two of their Guinness Six Nations contingent have only made the bench for the Anglo-French Sandy Park clash following last weekend’s 34-18 loss to Gloucester in the Gallagher Premiership.
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The Chiefs had travelled to Kingsholm with a shadow line-up and were always going to shake things up for a European knockout match where the prize for the winners is a home quarter-final next weekend against the winners of the Leinster versus Toulon tie in Dublin, but there is now concern about that last-eight fixture following the cancellation of the Good Friday game in Ireland less than five hours before its scheduled kickoff.
Coach Rob Baxter has recalled Scotland’s Stuart Hogg and Jonny Gray, as well as England trio Luke Cowan-Dickie, Jonny Hill and Henry Slade for what is only the second time Exeter will take the field this season defending the European title they won in last October’s Champions Cup final versus Racing.
Exeter opened their Champions Cup account with a December win over Glasgow but their other three pool matches were cancelled due to the pandemic and the tournament organisers are now restarting the competition with a straight knockout format.
While five of the Exeter Six Nations guns will start versus Lyon, Wales Six Nations title winner Tomas Francis has been kept in reserve as has Sam Skinner, who started for Scotland in their win over France last weekend. Olly Woodburn is the only player from last weekend’s loss at Kingsholm to keep his place in the Exeter XV.
"There is a lot of reasons for us to get excited"
– Rob Baxter has been talking up the double Premiership and Champions Cup champions #GallagherPrem #HeinekenChampionsCup
https://t.co/W94WtyQAQP— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) March 31, 2021
“This is where the really exciting part of the season starts,” said Baxter. “We have now got the whole squad back together post-Six Nations and as a group, we are excited for what lies ahead. In their absence, everyone who has been here has helped to put the club exactly where we want to be.
“We are second in the Premiership, so that means it is in our hands if we want to finish in the top two and get that home semi-final, and we are in the knockout stages of the Heineken Cup. Add to that, the sun is shining, the pitching is firming up, so we cannot ask for any more than that at this stage.
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“It’s all or nothing now. It’s knockout rugby from here on in. Yes, it has come a bit earlier than normal, but this is the kind of challenge you expect to face when you are in the Heineken Cup. For us, we see this as a very exciting challenge and one to really go after.”
EXETER: 15. Stuart Hogg; 14. Olly Woodburn, 13. Henry Slade, 12. Ollie Devoto, 11. Tom O’Flaherty; 10. Joe Simmonds (capt), 9. Jack Maunder; 1. Alec Hepburn, 2. Luke Cowan-Dickie, 3. Harry Williams, 4. Jonny Gray, 5. Jonny Hill, 6. Dave Ewers, 7. Jacques Vermeulen, 8. Sam Simmonds. Reps: 16. Jack Yeandle, 17. Ben Moon, 18. Tomas Francis, 19. Sam Skinner, 20. Jannes Kirsten, 21. Stu Townsend, 22. Harvey Skinner, 23. Ian Whitten.
LYON: 15. Toby Arnold; 14. Xavier Mignot, 13. Pierre-Louis Barassi, 12. Charlie Ngatai (capt), 11. Noa Nakaitaci; 10. Jonathan Wisniewski, 9. Baptiste Couilloud; 1. Vivien Devisme, 2. Jeremie Maurouard, 3. Francisco Gomez Kodela, 4. Felix Lambey, 5. Izack Jon Rodda, 6. Dylan Cretin, 7. Colby Fainga’a, 8. Patrick Sobela. Reps: 16. Mickael Ivaldi, 17. Xavier Chiocci, 18. Joe Taufete’e, 19. Mickael Guillard, 20. Alex Tulou, 21. Jean-Marc Doussain, 22. Thibaut Regard, 23. Clement Laporte.
Best lid between Genge, Watson and Hill? Best celebration? Best no try? Read on… #SixNationshttps://t.co/8hDnNrQaGC
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) April 2, 2021
Comments on RugbyPass
Interesting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
2 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
2 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
2 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
37 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
2 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
1 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
5 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
33 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
4 Go to comments