Exeter remain upbeat despite injury losses
Exeter’s Premiership title tilt has suffered a blow as forwards Sam Simmonds and Jonny Hill are set for lengthy spells on the sidelines. Simmonds injured his knee in last weekend’s 28-11 victory against Worcester, while Hill has suffered a hand ligament injury. Director of rugby Rob Baxter delivered a pretty glum assessment of their respective conditions, and they will be sorely missed when Leinster visit for their Champions Cup opener next week.
“It’s a little bit early to say how bad they are at the moment,” said Baxter. “Hopefully, they will be back before the end of the season, but I can’t really say at this stage.” That is pretty worrying for fans, particularly when you consider the rich vein of form that Simmonds has been mining. The 23-year-old England back-row finished as the joint-highest try scorer in the Premiership last season, and he has already crossed for five so far this season. Meanwhile, Hill has just broken into the England set-up and he is a vital presence in the second row.
Yet if you check out a review of betting sites and find the best odds available, you will see that Exeter are still the second favourites to win the Premiership. They were 2016/17 champions and they finished top of the table last time around, then thrashed Newcastle in the semis, but lost the final to Saracens. This time around Saracens are the even money favourites to win the title, but Exeter are not far behind at just 2/1, while the next team, Wasps are all the way out at 10/1. Like many pundits, the bookmakers expect this season’s Premiership to turn into a two-horsed race, with Exeter and Saracens set for another epic final showdown.
After losing to Exeter on Saturday, Warriors director of rugby Alan Solomons said: “Exeter fully deserved to win. They and Saracens are ahead of the rest. The league is a two-horse race.” Exeter have already vanquished Wasps and Newcastle on the road this season, and they have picked up strong home wins against Leicester, Sale and Worcester. The Leicester game in particular was an utter thrashing, and confidence remains high among the camp.
Baxter also contradicted himself with a more upbeat comment regarding the health of Simmonds and Hill. “You’ve just got to deal with these things, they happen, and use it to get the guys fit in every other area,” he said. “Both Sam and Jonny can develop other areas of their physique and elements they want to keep working on in their programmes anyway, so we’ve just got to get them back fit as soon as we can and move on. They’re both good players and both have a significant part to play in the rest of the season. It’s a long old season and it’ll be amazing how quick they’ll be back in the Exeter shirt.”
That is a far more optimistic assessment. It really is a long old season, and Exeter just need to hang in there around the top before welcoming that duo back into the fold. Every team will have injury problems, and they need to bring in reliable squad players to help out. Saracens are understandably still the favourites to win the trophy this season, as they too have won five on the bounce to storm to the top of the table.
Baxter has also sought to deflect away any talk of Exeter seizing glory this season. “I’m very pleased to win and with the foundation that we have laid down but we are not firing at 100 per cent and I’m concerned that we won’t be able to shake out of that lethargy when we’re challenged by the best,” he said. The Leinster game will be a great barometer of how well-equipped Exeter are to challenge for honours this season, particularly with Simmonds and Hill missing, but Baxter is a hard taskmaster and his constant demands for improvement could help them return to the summit of the game.
Comments on RugbyPass
Yeah nah he comes across as a funny bloke, but that stopped abruptly after the Nutcracker Prince debacle✋
1 Go to commentsAt this point I can’t watch him without thinking he’s a dirty slimebag. He should have been banned for the same amount of time that Quinn was out. It took Tupaea near on a fricking year to get fit enough to play again and his leg will never be the same. The other crap thing is that he was at ABs level and now he has to claw his way back there when he could have had several games under his belt.
4 Go to commentsThe Black Ferns 7’s have been without Captain Sarah Hirini now since Dec 23 in Dubai where she suffered a bad ACL injury - hopefully she is on the road to recovery for Madrid and Paris. Now also have Tyler King and Shiray kaka on the Injured List but the Team still found a way to win in Singapore and claim the overall Title.
1 Go to commentsUtter grub, hope he gets his leg broken. Shocking he is still playing after intentionally breaking quinn tupaeas knee
4 Go to commentsGreat to see NZ 7s teams finally coming into form and playing at the level that is expected of them.
2 Go to commentsChief Cheapshot on the market again.
4 Go to commentsCrusaders went all in to buy Hotham and Kemara staight from Hamilton Boys. Then they picked up Reihana and Hohepa; all have been dropped for superstar Havili, who is a very good fullback, that’s it. Ennor and Goodhue were schoolboy stars too but went backwards at the Crusaders. Maybe they have finally decided to give another poach Levi Aumua the ball?
13 Go to commentsJoe S has some talent to pick from. The Reds loosies look the best in Super? Aus might just give Razor a headache this year. Int. experience v Cantab greenhorn:) Should be fun.
13 Go to commentsEnd to end play, “THE FANS” this game was entertainment of the best. The conditions added to the spectacle.
1 Go to commentsSorry to say, but sadly the sadas were just ordinary and havilli at 10 as an abs selection just won’t cut it. He’s better suited in the centre’s and is a victim of past charge down kicks, he’s too slow under pressure. There’s better talent further north and I don’t mean dmac however I believe razor will sort him out. A feature of his presents on the park is the fact that the guys will follow him.
13 Go to commentsMarler was brilliant throughout both in the scrum and open play. His slap made virtually no contact with Ramos who milked it for a penalty when he could have been a decent sportsman and laughed it off, it was non-violent and shouldn't have been penalised. Smith failed repeatedly to kick when necessary and put up a couple of bombs into the TLS 22 that just handed back possession at key moments to the other side.
3 Go to commentsCros was outstanding and rightly awarded France TVs player of the match award. Mallia was brilliant as usual (the y is below the 6 on a UK keyboard and he deserves better than that). Level also seems to have been scored harshly as he walked the ball into touch under pressure from a Lynagh kick from well outside his own half which should never have led to a 50-22. Agree with BullShark that Dupont, while class at times, seemed to go missing for patches in the second half with props, hookers and wings frequently filling in at 9 as he couldn't get off the deck and up to the next ruck on time. A 7 by his standards at best, his kicking was also too long, too often. Kinghorn's overall contribution was worth well more than a five.
4 Go to commentsThe Harlequins team must be in minus figures. Did the reporter actually watch the game?
4 Go to commentsHow on earth did Walker escape a red card? Not dangerous? Dupont has his face in a mask earlier this season. Shocking decision. What is the point of TMOs? We had the Fassi ‘non-penalty try’ yesterday and now this.
2 Go to commentsCould have been a different result but yet again French tv able to affect the result by not showing the very clear high shot on harlequin centre if this would have been on a French player would have been on screen at least five times
3 Go to commentsAmazing. The losing team’s ratings are higher than the winning team’s. Mallia definitely didn’t deserve a y. What game were you watching? Should have got a w or an x. ADP hardly featured in that second half. At one point I wondered when he’d been subbed. Seems to me as if he gets an automatic 9 just for getting onto the team sheet.
4 Go to commentsI’m sorry. That second half was far from enthralling. It was painful to watch.
2 Go to commentsVery generous! If you’d missed the game, reading this you’d conclude that it was the Quins front row that cost them the game. Marler getting a blanket 6 for his demented contribution to the game. Puzzling.
3 Go to commentsCan’t see Toulouse beating Leinster at this rate.
7 Go to commentsADP was having a very average game until winning that penalty for Toulouse, sticking his big head in the way. “The head of God”?
7 Go to comments