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'Fire with fire' - Exeter Chiefs make one change as they name star-heavy line-up for London Irish
Exeter Chiefs have named a team littered with international talent as they take on London Irish at the Brentford Community Stadium. Rob Baxter’s Chiefs, who currently sit in third on the Gallagher Premiership table, are gunning for one of two home semi-final play-off spots.
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With England and British Lions star Jack Nowell set for another spell on the sidelines after hobbling out of the Worcester game with MCL injury, Baxter’s sole change to his back division sees the Cornishman replaced by the returning Alex Cuthbert.
“I was really pleased with the Worcester performance, particularly that first half,” said Baxter. “I know some people will think that’ a bit funny, especially when we were losing at the break, but I think as a supporter you needed to be here to understand just how bad the conditions were. There were 40mph winds going down the pitch and that is what we were up again in that first half.
“That said, we had put in place a strict and rigid game plan of how we wanted to play, how we wanted to get out of our half and, ultimately, stop Worcester from playing. All in all, we did that very well. The one time Worcester capitalised on one of our errors was when they scored their try, but other than that we kept them at arms length, before managing to score some points of our own.
“You then saw in the second half, other than the odd break-out moment from them, that we pretty much controlled the game and did everything we needed to do. Our ability in that first half, especially when we under that scoreboard pressure, not to over do things was fantastic. Had we tried to force the ball in any way, we could easily have conceded two or three scores. Instead, we stayed patient, we worked hard for one another and, ultimately, that created the platform for us to win.”
“Right here and now, they are a difficult side to put a finger on,” added Baxter. “We’ve seen this season some very good, dogged performances from them, where they have really troubled sides. Equally, they’ve had some disappointing results recently as well.
Meanwhile London Irish have named a team that itself boast a decent amount of star power. Albert Tuisue is set to make his 50th appearance for London Irish, having scored 16 times in 49 appearances since joining the Exiles in January 2019.
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In the front row, Will Goodrick-Clarke, Agustin Creevy and Lovejoy Chawatama combine, with Chunya Munga and Rob Simmons partnering in the second row.
Matt Rogerson captains the side from blindside flanker, and is joined in the back row by Ben Donnell and Albert Tuisue.
Nick Phipps and Paddy Jackson are the halfback duo, as Phil Cokanasiga and Curtis Rona wear the 12 and 13 jerseys respectively.
London Irish Academy graduates form the back three, with Ollie Hassell-Collins, Ben Loader and Tom Parton all starting.
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EXETER CHIEFS: 15 Stuart Hogg, 14 Alex Cuthbert, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Ollie Devoto, 11 Tom O’Flaherty
10 Joe Simmonds (capt), 9 Jack Maunder, 1 Ben Moon, 2 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 3 Harry Williams, 4 Jannes Kirsten, 5 Sean Lonsdale, 6 Dave Ewers, 7 Jacques Vermeulen, 8 Sam Simmonds
REPLACEMENTS: 16 Jack Yeandle, 17 Alec Hepburn, 18 Tomas Francis, 19 Tom Price, 20 Richard Capstick, 21 Stu Townsend, 22 Harvey Skinner, 23 Ian Whitten
LONDON IRISH: 15 Tom Parton, 14 Ben Loader, 13 Curtis Rona, 12 Phil Cokanasiga, 11 Ollie Hassell-Collins, 10 Paddy Jackson, 9 Nick Phipps, 1 Will Goodrick-Clarke, 2 Agustin Creevy, 3 Lovejoy Chawatama, 4 Chunya Munga, 5 Rob Simmons, 6 Matt Rogerson (c), 7 Ben Donnell, 8 Albert Tuisue
REPLACEMENTS: 16 Matt Cornish, 17 Facundo Gigena, 18 Ollie Hoskins, 19 George Nott, 20 Sean O’Brien, 21 Nic Groom, 22 Jacob Atkins, 23 James Stokes
Comments on RugbyPass
Absolutely spot on Ben. I certainly wouldn't gloat over a win like that. Frustrating as it is it's done and dusted and history will forever show the result.
97 Go to commentsHo hum.
97 Go to commentsNo question they were the better team. But that is the beauty of sport isn’t it!
97 Go to commentsEveryone is into Hurling in Ireland according to Porter, but only 11 of Ireland's 32 counties enter a team into the national competition. Same old blarney.
1 Go to commentsLet’s be honest. The draw and scheduling in the World Cup was a joke but South Africa found a way after having to go the hard (nearly impossible) way to the Cup Final via France and England. NZ had a hard game against France (lost) and had 5 weeks to prepare for the Quarter, 3 weeks knowing it was Ireland. NZ theerfore had to win one big game against an Irish team who played SA and then Scotland 7 days before. They won and it was de facto a semi final because they were playing a relatively weak Argentina team and it was a walk over. In the final a very rested NZ team was playing a very tired SA team and still lost. They couldn’t score more than 11 points. Put another way SA had to find a way to win while tired and they achieved that. NZ should thank their lucky stars that they fixed the scheduling in 2015 otherwise they would be dealing with a Bok treble.
97 Go to commentsPerhaps if Bongi wasn’t targeted and removed from the game in the first 3 minutes it would have been quite a different game. Maybe if NZ also faced the same competition the Boks faced to their win NZ would have looked quite different. The final score shows who outplayed who.
97 Go to commentsRubbish article! Abuladze played most of Exeters matches when fit. He got injured against Glasgow a while ago and is out for the rest of the season, thats why he hasnt played for Exeter and Georgia recently. Do some proper research next time!
1 Go to commentsGotta love it when kids throw their toys out the pram and can’t hack it with the grown ups debate. Here’s looking at you turlough! 😉🤣
148 Go to commentsThey lost the game period move on
97 Go to commentsSpringboks won! Stop winging. You can change the game however much you and your rugby colonizing IRB want to and the Springboks will win you at that too. Your mind is colonized my friend get a life
97 Go to commentsBen, nobody gets fooled anymore by selective and biased data to support an hypothesis. Games are decided on such small margins these days that you win some and lose some, and dominance is a thing of the rugby past. Look at the RWC circle of fortune…. Ireland beats SA who beat France who beat NZ who beat Ireland. And so it goes on. Match officials help to eliminate real indiscretions. If they had been with us years before, no doubt results would have been different. Remember Andy Haden’s dive from a lineout in 1978 for which a match-wining penalty was awarded? Wales should have beaten the ABs that day. They took the loss like the gentlemen they were.
97 Go to commentsWith all the analysis and how good the all blacks were.The fundamental mistake with the ABs is that this is a test match and not an exhibition.There is no better team(country) in world rugby than the Boks that knows how to win a test match(we are post masters at this).We know our rules, we have the discipline, we tackle like beasts, we take our points and we never give up.I now have educated the ABs supporters(at least say thank you).Please stop “bitching” , accept what the outcome is and move along swiftly.
97 Go to commentsAnd they came from behind to win two big games before the final. No one can say what would have happened. Had the boks gone behind the game plan changes and the result may changes. Ifs and ands are irrelevant. The boks won. Neutral critics enjoyed the games they played. Its not a popularity contest. Get over it and move on.
97 Go to commentsI'm happy for the people of SA to get a second WC. And I mean that. I was very disappointed with this man's “stand on the hand” incident with Josh Van Der Flyer (Ireland). Ireland's downfall in the last WC was they did not rotate their first 15 as the head coach probably should have. That said, I'm happy for SA and genuinely hope it lifts the mood in their country. Ireland did beat them in the first match of the tournament. And before the trolls start trolling ….. please don't bother. Etzbeth said recently that the Irish players said after the match “see you in the final”…..this was actually wishing the SA team the best of luck in the rest, the Irish team were not dismissing the AB’s. This is what Etzbeth was implying. But he was wrong. I no longer live in Ireland. But I hope to see them lift that cup before I pass. Anyway, congratulations SA. 👍
12 Go to commentsMore bloody click bait. Dan Carter has said absolutely nothing. As he should do. Poor journalism again from a site that should know better
9 Go to commentsOh god please help these loosers get over it!!!! You lost. Doesn't matter how many times you dummies are gonna analyse the game, you still lost and we are still Rygby World Champions….get over it, you lost.
97 Go to commentsThe next Willie le Roux. SA are made not to use him.
3 Go to commentsDan has always been as controversial as tea with milk so we were never going to get any definitive answer. So DMac for the win.
9 Go to commentsGoodness. When are the All Blacks and New Zealand commentators going to stop complaining about how they could have won and just try to win next time 😂. In South Africa if you lose you get up and try again. Get over it.
97 Go to commentsHonestly, it doesn’t matter a whole lot. RSA has a ton of experienced talent in its leadership group. I am more interested in who is the new 8 man/8 men and the younger props. The captain may change but the system does not
1 Go to comments