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Exeter launched their defence of the Heineken Champions Cup by crushing Glasgow 42-0 at Sandy Park. Roared on by a 2,000 crowd – the first spectators allowed into Sandy Park since March – Exeter delivered a comprehensive win that put them firmly among the early Pool B pace-setters.
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Chiefs’ former Glasgow stars Stuart Hogg and Jonny Gray scored tries, while there were also touchdowns for number eight Sam Simmonds, wing Olly Woodburn, lock Jonny Hill and skipper Jack Yeandle, with Joe Simmonds kicking six conversions.
Glasgow showed plenty of grit, but they offered little in attack as Exeter’s forwards dominated and Chiefs had a bonus point secured midway through the third quarter.
Life for the European champions will soon get infinitely tougher, with four-time tournament winners Toulouse waiting for them in France next Sunday.
Toulouse opened their campaign in impressive fashion away to Ulster, and the encounter against Exeter already looks a pivotal game regarding the race for quarter-final places.
But Exeter will travel in confident mood, having knocked out Toulouse at last season’s semi-final stage and winning all four of their domestic and European games this term with bonus points.
Both sides welcomed back a number of international players, with Exeter including ex-Glasgow players Hogg and Gray, as the Chiefs began a new Champions Cup campaign just 57 days after they lifted the trophy by beating Racing 92 in Bristol.
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It was a hesitant opening by the Chiefs, though, with Simmonds putting the kick-off straight into touch, before Glasgow gained a long-range penalty from the resulting scrum that Peter Horne sent narrowly wide.
But Exeter were soon into their renowned rhythm, and they delivered a trademark try after 14 minutes.
They went close with a driven lineout, and when Chiefs repeated the tactic from their next attack, Sam Simmonds made no mistake, touching down for a score that his brother Joe converted.
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The Exeter forwards began to find overdrive, and there was little Glasgow could do stem a relentless flow of phase-play deep inside their own 22.
Gray crashed over for a second try in the 24th minute, again converted by Simmonds, and referee Mathieu Raynal lost patience with Glasgow’s repeated infringing, showing a yellow card to centre Sam Johnson.
Glasgow did not concede a point while Johnson was off, and while Exeter did not score again before half-time, the visitors saw two more departures when Horne and hooker George Turner departed for head injury assessments.
It was a solid, rather than spectacular, first 40 minutes by the Chiefs, but with no doubting their supremacy up-front.
Right on cue, the Exeter backs took centre stage just two minutes after the start when Woodburn made a searing midfield break and sent Hogg across for a superb try that Simmonds converted.
There was no way back for Glasgow, and Exeter collected a bonus point in the 54th minute when Glasgow’s lineout malfunctioned and Yeandle scored a simple try, converted by Simmonds.
Great example of a big, legal and safe tackle – perfectly executed by @FagersonMatt #EXEvGLA pic.twitter.com/hvzk7oyOg4
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) December 13, 2020
Exeter had not finished yet, and Woodburn showed the Glasgow defence a clean pair of heels to add try number five, which the immaculate Simmonds converted.
And with one eye on the meeting Toulouse in seven days’ time, Exeter boss Rob Baxter made a host of changes, taking off the likes of Hogg and flanker Dave Ewers and being able to reflect on a convincing afternoon’s work.
Comments on RugbyPass
Dagg is still trying to get enough headlines to make himself relevant enough to get a job. The Crusaders went back to square one at all levels. Shelve this season and nail the next one.
4 Go to commentsHe was in such great form. Sad for him but only a short term injury and it will be great to see him back for the finals.
1 Go to commentsAfter their 5/0 start, I had the Crusaders to finish Top 4 only…they lost the plot in Perth but will reload and back themselves vs 4th placed Rebels…
3 Go to commentsBoth nations missed a great opportunity to book a game that would have had a lot of interest from around the world. I understand these games can’t be organised in 5 minutes but they should have found a way to make it happen. I don’t think Wales are ducking anyone but it’s a bad look haha.
3 Go to commentsIt will be fascinating to see the effect that Jo Yapp has. If they can compete with Canada and give BFs a run for their money that will be progress
1 Go to commentsFollowing his dream and putting in the work. Go well young fella!
3 Go to commentsPerhaps filling Twickenham is one of Mitchell’s KPIs. I doubt whether both September matches will be at Twickenham on consecutive weekends. I would take the BF one to a large provincial stadium so as not to give them the advantage and experience of playing at Twickenham before a large crowd prior to the RWC.
3 Go to commentsvery unfortunate for Kitshoff, but big opportunity potentially for Nché to prove he is genuinely the best loosehead in the world, rather than just a specialist finisher. Presuming that if Kitshoff is out, it will also give Steenekamp a chance to come into the 23? Or are others likely to be ahead of him?
1 Go to commentsA long held question in popular culture asks if art imitates life or does the latter influence the former? Over this 6 nations I can ask the same question of the media influencing the thoughts of its audience or vice versa. Nobody wants to see cricket scores in rugby, as a spectacle it is not sustainable. With so many articles about England’s procession and lack of competition it feeds the epicaricacy of many looking for an opportunity to pounce. England are not the first team to dominate nor does it happen only in rugby, think Federer, Nadal, Red Bull or Mercedes, Manchester Utd, Australia in tests and World Cups. Instead of celebrating the achievements why find reasons to falsify it pointing towards larger playing pool, professional for a longer period or mitigate with the lack of growth in other nations. Can we not enjoy it while it is here and know that it won’t last for ever, others coveting what England have will soon take the crown, ask the aforementioned?
6 Go to commentsShame he won’t turn out for the Netherlands now they’re improving. U20s are Euro champs and in the U20 Trophy this year. The senior sides gets better every year too.
3 Go to commentsWill rugbypass tv be showing these games?
1 Go to commentsWell where do you start, the fact that England have a professional domestic league and Ireland’s is fully amatuer, that they have fully seperated professional squads at Fifteens and Sevens (7’s thinly disguised as GB), and Ireland have fully pro Sevens squad who loan some players back to the Semi-Professional Fifteens squad (moved from amateur for only a year or so) for a few games at 6N & RWC’s. The Women’s games is a shambles, and is at risk of killing itself by pushing for professionalism when the market isn’t really there to support it outside one or two countnries..
6 Go to commentsWayne Smith's input didn't have as much impact on the last final as Davison's red card for Thompson. England were 14 points up and flying when that happened.
6 Go to commentsBilly's been playing consistently well for 2 - 3 seasons now and deserves a look in at the top level. Ioane and ALB are still first choice but there needs to be injury cover and succession. His partnership with Jordie gives him first dibs you'd think. Go the Hurricanes.
3 Go to commentsIt’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
3 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
36 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
2 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
3 Go to comments