It's business as usual for Premiership leaders Exeter as Borthwick's first Leicester outing ends in defeat
Exeter Chiefs extended their lead at the top of the Gallagher Premiership with a 26-13 bonus-point victory over Leicester Tigers witnessed by England head coach Eddie Jones. Jones would no doubt have been impressed by several of his players as Exeter declared business as usual and eleventh-placed Leicester showed signs of fresh life under new coach Steve Borthwick.
This was Exeter’s first game since the club decided to keep their controversial Chiefs branding following a board review amid claims that it was racist.
Club mascot ‘Big Chief’ was missing along with the Sandy Park fans – absent because of the coronavirus pandemic – after Exeter’s decision to retire him in the wake of those internal discussions. But the Chiefs’ ‘Tomahawk Chop’ celebration remained to greet the home side’s four tries.
Exeter had been in impressive form when their season was put on pause 161 days earlier, scoring over 50 points in their previous two home games and establishing a five-point lead at the top of the Premiership.
Closest challengers Sale’s defeat at Harlequins on Friday had also come as a boost, but Leicester were hungry visitors as their season of discontent resumed under Borthwick. Scotland centre Matt Scott and on-loan wing David Williams made debuts in the starting XV and Zack Henry joined Luke Wallace among new faces on the bench. Club captain Tom Youngs stepped out for his 150th start.
"One side to the other, and they have skinned a Tiger!" @andNickMullins 🎙️
🙌 What an unbelievable try that is from @ExeterChiefs and Stuart Hogg 😲#RugbyRestart pic.twitter.com/rD2DmaHudl
— Rugby on TNT Sports (@rugbyontnt) August 15, 2020
Scotland lock Jonny Gray was the notable newcomer for hosts who were without England wing Jack Nowell. George Ford kicked off for the Tigers after a minute’s silence for those NHS workers who had died in the Devon area during the lockdown and after players from both sides opted to take a knee in a tribute to the Black Lives Matter movement.
The Tigers drew first blood in the eleventh minute through Ford’s 45-metre penalty. Their line speed in defence their tenacity at the breakdown initially thwarted the Chiefs whenever they had the ball.
Exeter looked the rustier of the two teams and Ford extended the visitors’ lead with a superb drop goal from 25 metres as Gray closed him down. Leicester had looked anything like a team one place off the bottom of the table, but their goal line came under increasing pressure as the half wore on.
Exeter were rewarded when flanker Dave Ewers sneaked over in the corner and a 12-6 lead was theirs right on half-time. The Tigers were split open by a well-worked back move and Olly Woodburn fed Stuart Hogg, who sprinted clear for a try which Joe Simmonds superbly converted from the touchline.
The writing was on the wall for the Tigers and hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie scored within two minutes of the restart and Simmonds converted. Further forward power brought a penalty try, a bonus point and a 26-6 lead, with Leicester losing No8 Jordan Taufua to the sin bin.
But the numbers were even again when second row Jonny Hill was yellow carded as a Leicester penalty try to cut the gap to 13 points. Leicester refused to lie down in the final quarter but they lacked the necessary composure to again breach a resilient Chiefs defence.
This wasn't the sort of Gloucester return Jonny May was expecting https://t.co/GUwhaMupbW
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) August 15, 2020
Comments on RugbyPass
Anna, 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.
55 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 commentsDon’t disagree with much of this but it appears you forgot Rodda and Beale, who started at the Force on the weekend.
11 Go to commentsExcept for the injured Zach Gallagher this would be Saders best forward pack for the season. Blackadder needs to stay at 7, for all of Christies tackling he is not dominant and offers very little else. McNicholfullback is maybe a good option, Fihaki not really upto it, there was a reason Burke played there last year. Maybe Havilli to 2nd five McLeod to wing. Need a strong winger on 1 side to compliment Reece
1 Go to commentsTo me TJ is clearly the best 9 in the competition right now but he's also a proven player off the bench, there's few playmaking players who can come off the bench as calm and settled as he is, Beauden can, TJ can and I doubt any of the scrumhalves in contention can, if they want to experiment with new 9s I want him on the bench ready to step in if they crumble under the pressure. The Boks put their best front row on the bench, I'd like to see us take a similar approach, the Hurricanes have been doing similar things with players like Kirifi.
61 Go to commentsROG has better chance to win a WC if he starts training and make himself eligible as a player. He won’t make the Ireland squad but I reckon he may get close with Namibia (needs to improve his Afrikaans) or Portugal. Both sides had 1000:1 odds to win the RWC in 2023 which is an improvement on ROG’s odds of winning a RWC as a coach. Unlike Top 14 teams, national teams can’t go shopping and buy the best players - you work with the available talent pool and turn them into world beaters.
8 Go to commentsthat backline nope that backline is terrible why would you have sevu Reece when he’s not even top 5 wingers in the comp why have Blackadder when there’s better players no Scott barret isn’t an automatic the guy is more of a liability than anything why have him there when you have samipeni who’s far far better
61 Go to comments