'Iribaren could be their man of the match' - Fans shocked at Racing halfback's Champions Cup final performance
Exeter’s thrilling 31-27 victory over Parisian club Racing 92 will be remembered for the Devon-club’s goal line defence to prevent Racing from taking the lead with 10-minutes to go, but it was one very forgettable night for Racing scrumhalf Teddy Iribaren.
The French halfback was benched at halftime, replaced by Maxime Machenaud, after a horrific showing in the first half that allowed Exeter to race out to a 14-0 lead. Machenaud was seen warming up after just 25-minutes after a host of Iribaren errors handed momentum to the Chiefs.
Iribaren’s night started with a failed touch finder in just the second minute, squandering an early penalty just past halfway by kicking the ball dead and letting Exeter off the hook when a line out from inside their 22 beckoned.
A short while later, the 9 inexplicably took a quick throw in to himself after a long Jack Nowell exit kick. Exeter pinned the isolated halfback and earned a holding-on penalty resulting in a 90-metre territory and possession swing that the Chiefs scored their first try from.
His performance went from bad to worse, throwing a high-risk pass in-field after coving a territorial kick from Joe Simmonds. Instead of letting the ball roll into touch, giving his side the throw, Iribaren grabbed the ball at the last second before throwing a loose pass to Juan Imhoff. Exeter’s kick chase unit swarmed the winger and won another penalty, kicking to the corner.
After Exeter knocked on from the line out throw, Iribaren’s misplaced pass from the five metre scrum to Finn Russell for the clearing kick was knocked on in the in-goal, almost leading to a gift try to the Chiefs.
If that wasn’t enough, the scrumhalf then gave away two straight penalties as his side tried to defend their own line. Exeter barged over shortly after to score their second try through Sam Simmonds.
Fans were shocked at how irresponsible Racing’s halfback was, with one fan labelling his performance as ‘the worst opening 15 minutes I’ve ever seen’, another calling for an early subsitution as he was ‘all over the shop’.
If Exeter win this, Iribaren could be their man of the match. #EXEvR92
— Ruck ’n’ Roll (@RnRRugby) October 17, 2020
Teddy Iribaren is having perhaps the worst opening 15 mins of rugby I’ve ever seen.
Kicking dead, *that pass* on the 5m line, penalties conceded.
Racing would benefit if he got sin binned at this rate.#EXEvR92 #ChampionsCupFinal
— The Travelling Reserve (@TravelReserve) October 17, 2020
Couple of costly errors from Teddy Iribaren early on.
Missing touch and then taking the quick lineout to himself. Big errors early in a European final. #EXEvR92
— Murray Kinsella (@Murray_Kinsella) October 17, 2020
Iribaren is the epitome of French right here
— Mark (@Mark_B_5) October 17, 2020
Iribaren having a William Bateman style performance at scrum half #EXEvR92
— Noel Lyons (@noel2384) October 17, 2020
I'd be changing my scrum half if I was the Racing coach. Iribaren is all over the shop.
— Doug the Prop🏉💙💛 (@DougProp) October 17, 2020
Seriously Iribaren needs gone.
— Fi (@Fiona_Hunter18) October 17, 2020
Of two hugely enjoyable rugby matches this afternoon, I enjoyed the RL game the more – the Heineken final was also compelling, but decided ultimately by errors from Iribaren & Russell
— John Field 🌻 (@John__Field) October 17, 2020
Exeter were excellent, but their MVP was either Owens or Iribarren.
— TeamCam (@TeamCam9) October 17, 2020
Despite Iribaren’s nightmare opening stanza, Racing were able to hit back each and every time Exeter were able to score with missed conversions ultimately being the difference between the two sides.
A sublime pass from Finn Russell reminiscent of his famous passes for Scotland, found Simon Zebo out wide who streaked away to score in the corner to cut Exeter’s lead back to 14-5.
A cheeky dart from Juan Imhoff became Racing’s second, as the Argentine winger ghosted over to score untouched from the base of the ruck after a weight of possession by Racing. At 14-12 the French club were well and truly back in the match but conceded a costly try to Harry Williams on the stroke of the halftime to go into the sheds down 21-12.
Zebo scored his second try shortly after the resumption of play after a high shot from Henry Slade gave Racing an early attacking opportunity. Finn Russell gave the points straight back when Jack Nowell intercepted the flyhalf just outside Racing’s 22. The England winger found centre Slade with an offload and Exeter extended their lead to 28-17 again.
When Camille Chat scored to reduce the gap to 28-24, half an hour remained. Both sides kicked penalty goals in a frantic final 30 to leave a four point difference between the two sides at full time.
After the game, Exeter’s Director of Rugby said it wasn’t his usual side that showed up, saying that Exeter’s performance had some of the ‘poorest attack and poorest defence’ he’d seen all season.
“My emotions are all over the place,” Exeter rugby director Baxter said.
“It was a funny game, wasn’t it? It kind of wasn’t an Exeter Chiefs type of game, yet we ended up winning it. We didn’t really piece the game together at all.
“In some ways, it was some of our poorest attack and poorest defence of the season.”
It was Racing 92’s third Champions Cup final loss after defeats to Saracens in 2016 and Leinster in 2018. They will be left to rue a final 10-minutes in which they turned down a penalty shot from the sideline to push for a try.
Trailing by just two points, the French club refused to take the three or set-up for a drop goal despite multiple phases in front of Exeter’s posts. After a long period of possession, a turnover on the goal line in the 75th minute after 19 phases killed off Racing’s chances.
They were unable to get back into Exeter 22 and watched as Joe Simmonds kicked a long-range penalty as time expired.
Comments on RugbyPass
Results probably skewed by the fact that a few clubs have foreign fly halves in their 30s, but most teams have young English scrum halves. Results also likely to be skewed by the fact that many teams rely on centres and fullbacks to provide depth at 10, whereas they will need to stock a large number of specialist backup 9s.
1 Go to commentsI really get the sense that when all is said and done, the path of least resistance will end up being a merger of Wasps & Worcester that essentially kills the Worcester Warriors brand and sees Wasps permanently playing at Sixways. I’m not saying that’s what should happen or what I want to happen. I just think it’s the easiest rout to take and therefore, will be what happens. Wasps will definitely return to play first, and I suppose it all depends on if they can find support at Sixways. If people turn up and support Wasps in that community, at that ground, I bet they drop the Sevenoaks plan and just remain at Sixways. Under the radar but not totally unrelated, it looks as though London Irish are going to be brought back from the dead by a German consortium and look set to return, likely to the remade Championship. It’s set to have 12 clubs next season with 14 in 2025/26, what do you want to bet those extra 2 are Wasps and London Irish?
1 Go to commentsThe shoulder is a “joint” with multiple bones. You don’t “fracture” a shoulder, you fracture any one or more of the bones that make up a shoulder.
2 Go to commentsOh dear, bones too suspect to continue?
2 Go to commentsBold headline considering the Canes and Blues are 1 and 2 and the Brumbies were soundly beaten by the Chiefs and Blues. Biggest surprise is Rebels 4 Crusaders 12 - no one saw that coming. If Aus are improving that’s great 👍
1 Go to commentsAnna, You are right, we need to have patience whilst the others catch up to England and France. Also it is the PWR that has been the game changer for England. the RFU put money into that initially at the expense of the Red Roses. I was sceptical at first but it has paid off in spades.
1 Go to commentsI think Matt Proctor became a 1 test AB in the same fixture. Cameron is quality and has been great this season, can’t believe’s he only 27. Realistically how would he not be selected for ABs squad this year. Only Dmac is ahead of him as a specialist 10. With Jordan out, it will come down to where and when Beauden Barrett slots back in, and where they want to play Ruben Love. Cameron seems an absolute lock in for the wider squad though. Added benefit of TJ-Cameron-Jordie combination at 9, 10, 11 too.
1 Go to commentsFarcical, to what end would someone want to pay to keep this thing going.
1 Go to commentsHavili, our best 12 by a mile, will be in the squad, if he stays fit. JB is the most overrated AB in the last 50 years.
61 Go to commentsWe had during the week twilight footy, twilight cricket, tw golf plus there was the athletics club. Then the weekend was rugby 15s plus the net ball, really busy club scene back then but so much has changed and rugby has suffered. And it was all about changing lifestyles.
6 Go to commentsIn the 70s and 80s my club ran 5 Senior sides plus a Vets. Now it is 2 sides with an occasional 3rd team. Players have difficulty getting to training now, not sure why and the commitment is not there. It seems to me more a problem of people applying themselves and not expecting to turn up and play whenever they want to.
6 Go to commentsROG’s contract is until 2027. The conversation about a successor to Galthie after RWC 2027 may be starting now. We can infer that Galthie’s reign stops then. He is throwing the Irish Coaching Job angle in because he is Irish. The next Irish coach MUST be Leo Cullen. As well as being the best coach available, coaching the vast majority of Irish Internationals week in week out, he has shown incredible skill at recruiting the best coaching staff for the job in hand. That was a failing in France. Cullen is a shrewd guy and if there is a need for foreign coaches underneath him he won’t hesitate. Rightly so. Ireland does need to start to bring Irish coaches through. Not just at the professional level but we need to train coaches to man new pathways for developing kids from schools/clubs up through the divisions.
8 Go to commentsNo Islam says it must rule where it stands Thus it is to be deleted from this planet Earth
18 Go to commentsThis team probably does not beat the ABs sadly Not sure if BPA will be available given his signing for Force but has to enter consideration. Very strong possibility of getting schooled by the AB props. Advantage AB. Rodda/Skelton would be a tasty locking combination - would love to see how they get on. Advantage Wallabies. Backrow a risk of getting out hustled and outmuscled by ABs. Will be interesting to see if the Blues feast on the Reds this weekend the way they did the Brumbies we are in big trouble at the breakdown. Great energy, running and defence but goalkicking/general kicking/passing quality in the halves bothers me enormously. SA may have won the World Cup for a lot of the tournament without a recognised goalkicker but Pollard in the final made a difference IMO. Injuries and retirements leave AB stocks a bit lighter but still stronger. 12 and 13 ABs shade it (Barret > Paisami, Ione = Ikitau, arguably) Interesting clash of styles on the wings - Corey Toole running around Caleb Clark and Caleb running over the top of Toole. Reece vs Koro probably the reverse. Pretty even IMO. 15s Kelleway = Love See advantage to ABs man for man, but we are not obviously getting slaughtered anywhere which makes a nice change. Think talent wise we are pretty even and if our cohesion and teamwork is better than the ABs then its just about doable.
11 Go to commentsCompletely agree. More friday night games would be a hit. RFU to make sure every club has a floodlit pitch. Club opens again Saturday to welcome touch / tag. Minis and youths on Sunday
6 Go to comments1.97m and 105Kg? Proportionately, probably skinnier than me at 1.82 and 82kilos. He won’t survive against the big guys at that weight.
56 Go to commentsThe value he brought to the crusaders as an assistant was equal to what he got out of being there. He reflected not only on the team culture but also the credit he attributed to the rugby community. Such experience shouldn’t be overlooked.
8 Go to commentsGood luck Aussie
11 Go to commentssmith at 9 / mounga 10 / laumape 12 / fainganuku 14
61 Go to commentsBar the injuries, it’s pretty much their top team …
2 Go to comments