1
According to the 2019/20 Gallagher Premiership table, Tuesday’s meeting between Bristol Bears and Exeter Chiefs was an encounter between the two best teams in England. The Chiefs came out on top 25-22 at Ashton Gate, opening up an eleven-point lead in the league over their rivals and giving themselves a spring in their step should the two sides face each other in the playoffs.
ADVERTISEMENT
Following their Premiership victory over Sale last Friday at the AJ Bell, it was a much-changes Exeter outfit, so much of the talk (and trolling) after the game online by Devonians – as well as fans across the country – was about how a second-string Chiefs XV could topple the side who were second to them in the table.
While it would be wrong to label Tuesday’s victors a second-team, there were undoubtedly star names missing; more than ten in truth.
Bristol themselves were shy of a few first-choice players, but certainly not as many as Rob Baxter’s side were.
I can’t see how Exeter won’t win the Prem this year. Playing great rugby and solid in defence.
As much as fans don’t want to admit it,the league will badly miss Saracens next year. Of course teams will improve, but Chiefs 2nd string beat a strong Bears team at home. #BRIvEXE
— Mana Rugby (@mana_rugby) August 25, 2020
Amazing game.
Bristol played some wonderful stuff but Exeter were simply superb.
Considering everyone was drooling over the Bristol side and Exeter were essentially a 2nd string team. That's an incredible win.
— Benjamin Sutton (@BenjaminSuttonx) August 25, 2020
Rugby Union .. Exeter’s 1st team the best in the league , Exeter’s 2nd team the 2nd best in the league !!
— Hugh (@shugiehughie) August 25, 2020
It was a close game where Bristol only woke up in the second half, but a lot of praise has been directed at the Chiefs who are now firm favourites to win the league this season and take the title from automatically regelated Saracens.
What Tuesday did perhaps highlight was that there is no such thing as a second-team at Exeter. Such is the depth that their standard doesn’t dip even with a raft of changes.
Bristol Bears social media team are the best when it comes to clever memes, but their full strength rugby team lost to a second string Exeter outfit last night which is pretty ominous for their aspirations to Premiership glory. https://t.co/Vo3kGJpKeG
— Bruce Lawson (@Sapere_vivere) August 26, 2020
ADVERTISEMENT
So I won't be the first but I'll go there anyway. Nice to see the Exeter 2nd XV putting in a shift against a pretty gun Bristol XV tonight! #premiershiprugby #exevbri
— Nick Auger (@NickAuger88) August 25, 2020
Might bring a bit of perspective to Bristol bandwagon. Beaten at home by Exeter who had a load of second xv playing.
— Tom Coleman (@LeinsterRoyalty) August 25, 2020
Bristol, meanwhile, will continue to develop with a team that has seen an influx of new faces in recent weeks. Players will be rotated, though, as they already have, and the question remains as to whether they – or any other team in England – have the depth to rival the Chiefs.
Says a lot that a second string Exeter side beat an on form Bristol.
Exeter a level above everyone and with Saracens out of the picture, really find it hard to see the Chiefs not winning the league. #Rugby #GallagherPrem
— Edd Owsley (@owsley32) August 25, 2020
Big win for Exeter. Bristol their biggest challengers for the title and to win away with a second string shows the squad depth. Bristol will be kicking themselves after their brilliant start to the second half #BRIvEXE #GallagherPrem
— Matt Cassidy (@Cass_maitias) August 25, 2020
Squad rotation is key in such a congested period and Olly Woodburn provided a vivid visualisation as to why that is true against Bristol. Having been the only Exeter player to start all three games in a ten-day period, the winger pulled up with a groin injury in the second half which allowed Ioan Lloyd to score.
Baxter will know that he will have to continue to rest his players, particularly given their ambitions in the Heineken Champions Cup in September, but he knows a strong performance will come from whatever players he fields.
ADVERTISEMENT
Comments on RugbyPass
After 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.
2 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.
31 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 commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
3 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
1 Go to comments