1
'We've got internationals pretty much everywhere now' - Exeter's high-powered attack key as they chase a historic double to join the revered list of English clubs
Exeter captain Joe Simmonds says there will be no let-up from the Chiefs as they continue their relentless pursuit of a domestic and European title double.
ADVERTISEMENT
Two months before his 24th birthday, fly-half Simmonds will lead Exeter into uncharted territory – a Heineken Champions Cup final appointment with Racing 92.
A week after that potential blockbuster in Bristol on October 17, the Chiefs could find themselves in a fifth successive Premiership final at Twickenham.
“We want to win every trophy we compete for,” said Simmonds, whose stunning solo try completed a semi-final masterclass as Exeter downed multiple European champions Toulouse 28-18.
“That is the great thing about this team, we are so passionate to win trophies.
“We’ve had a few hurts in the last couple of years, losing finals, but we showed with the performance out there that everyone is hungry. It was brilliant.
“We are really excited. We’ve never been in this position before, and it is a massive opportunity for not just the players, but the club and Exeter as a city as well.
“When it comes to it, we will be raring to go.”
Exeter were only promoted to the Premiership 10 years ago, and their staggering rise ranks among British rugby’s most spectacular success stories.
ADVERTISEMENT
And greatness beckons if they can land both major trophies, emulating the feats of Leicester, Wasps and Saracens during rugby union’s 25-year professional era.
“What was I doing 10 years ago? I think I watched one of the (Championship play-off) games here, and just probably looking up to people like ‘Steeno’ (his fellow Exeter fly-half Gareth Steenson),” Simmonds added.
“I loved the game, I loved watching rugby. To be here now is crazy.
“I saw a tweet saying there’s eight or 10 players in the (match-day) 23 that have come through the academy.
ADVERTISEMENT
“The way the coaches read the players is brilliant, and for me to captain such a great team is brilliant. I have so many leaders out there, it helps my job.
“We are looking only an hour-and-a-half up the road for the final. We’ve got to take it as a home game for us.
“We are really excited for it, but we’ve still got two Premiership games to go and the semi-final. We’ve just got to look forward and enjoy what we are doing.
“To have this opportunity to play in such big games, we will relish it.
“We’ve got internationals pretty much everywhere now. We identified the key threats Toulouse would bring, then it was about putting our game on them.
“We scored 28 points against a very good Toulouse team, so we feel we can score points against anyone.”
While Joe scored 13 of Exeter’s points, his older brother – England international back-row forward Sam – also claimed a try as they both once again underlined their priceless value to the Chiefs’ product.
“He does alright!” Joe said. “I wouldn’t say it to his face, but yeah he does well and he gets the team going forward.
“It’s nice having him in the team. We never really talk about it too much, but when we finish playing and look back it’s going to be a proud moment for both of us.
“For now though, we’ve got to just keep playing well week in, week out.”
Comments on RugbyPass
If he was to be cited for a dangerous behavior, then it’s natural that he should be. Then NTamack too, yes? And I’ll add a good whataboutism - Yeandle eye-gouging on Richie Arnold: not cited. Eye-gouging. Not high tackle. Eye-gouging. It was on French TV, with French TV directors.
5 Go to commentsReally poorly written rambling piece ..
2 Go to commentsIt was so boring
1 Go to commentspersonally I’d go with : 1. France 2. NZ 3. England 4. Ireland 5. Scotland
27 Go to commentsAndy everything becomes easier with experience therefor counting etc straight after a match becomes easier when you have 100+ caps vs 17 which is the experience you speak from.
160 Go to commentsGetting rid of the Dupont Law is a good thing and ought to have been done months ago! Officially getting rid of the croc roll is a good thing. The law about no scrums from a short arm is well intended in terms of speeding the game up but it’s an overreaction to a clever yet calculated gamble that could have blow up in South Africa’s face if they conceded a penalty from the scrum that was set after Willemse took claimed the mark in the World Cup QF.
53 Go to commentsRassie The GOAT
9 Go to commentsOf their 5 big matches in RWC Scotland and NZ were the easiest. They took a 12-3 lead against NZ and after the red decided it was best to hold the lead and take chances that came. None came and it was tight but they dug a lot deeper in the other two knock out matches. They had trounced NZ in Twickenham in a fixture that NZ must now regret. Psychology was clearly with SA in the final as a result.
27 Go to commentsMy favourite line/exchanges from Chasing the Sun 2. News headline: “SA. The last hurdle in ABs World Cup glory”. Something like that. “You’re all just a hurdle. A hop, skip and a jump”. Coming from Rassie and Jacque. Basically - nobody thinks you’re going to win. You’re just a pushover team. Nobody respects you. When the camera shows the players faces, you can see the effect. You can see the rev meters (die moer metertjies) firing up. Mitchell said he felt it prior to the 19 final. He said to Eddie watching the teams warming up that it was going to be a tough day at the office. Wave a red flag in front of South African, and you can expect a reaction. This is not unique - many teams rev themselves. And Bok teams in particular. With horrific consequences (discipline, poor thinking under pressure) because that’s the drawback to using emotion right? But what this Bok team does better than many since 2007 is channel the emotion and stay on task. Despite the emotion. Why, because while Rassie might play mind games - he talks about creating a safe environment. Listen to his recent honorary doctorate acceptance speech. While he uses psychology he creates psychological safety. He’s a damn fine coach. Can’t wait for Pretoria. It’s going to be a hummer.
9 Go to commentsWhat Rassie does for SA is big. It has helped people to unite and see we can win with the right people in place.
9 Go to commentsTerrible conditions for young players to express themselves just enjoy it guys. As a saffa great to see Ausie youth looking good. Wow SA have some great talent also.
2 Go to commentsYes, another example of French tv directors ensuring that incidents like this are swiftly glossed over for the benefit of their teams…
5 Go to commentsThe prospect of the club match ups across hemispheres is surely appetising for everyone. The reality however, may prove to be slightly different. There are currently two significant driving forces that have delivered to same teams consistently to the latter champions cup stages for years now. The first of those is the yawning gap in finances, albeit delivered by different routes. In France it’s wealthy private owners operating with a higher salary cap by some distance compared to England. In Ireland it’s led by a combination of state tax relief support, private Leinster academy funding and IRFU control - the provincial budgets are not equal! This picture is not going to change anytime soon. The second factor is the EPCR competition rules. You don’t need a PhD. in advanced statistical analysis from oxbridge to see the massive advantage bestowed upon the home team through every ko round of the tournament. The SA teams will gain the opportunity for home ko ties in due course but that could actually polarise the issue even further, just look at their difficulties playing these ties in Europe and then reverse them for the opposition travelling to SA. Other than that, the picture here is unlikely to change either, with heavyweight vested interests controlling the agenda. So what does all this point to for the club world championship? Well the financial differential between the nh and sh teams is pretty clear. And the travel issues and sporting challenge for away teams are significantly exacerbated beyond those already seen in the EPCR tournaments. So while the prospect of those match ups may whet our rugby appetites, I’m very much still to be convinced the reality will live up to expectations…
2 Go to commentsThe manipulative and cynical Erasmus….
9 Go to commentsWe see you World Rugby….we see you🤡😏
53 Go to commentsBoks are lucky to have a player of the calibre of PSDT in their ranks😍
7 Go to commentsI really like what the boks have done with bringing Vermeulen into their coaching setup. Perhaps they would have gone to france anyway, but Lawes and Farrell could at least have been offered assistant coaching roles. Lawes could probably aptly fill the brief (breakdown, contact skills, and handling) just given to Strawbridge; and Farrell could be a pretty good like for like replacement for Sinfield when he leaves. I probably wouldn’t want them in the national team set up just yet, but it would be good to see strings pulled to either get May, Youngs, Cole, & Care player-coaching roles in the premiership, or to move them into the under 20s coaching staff.
3 Go to commentsSo spiteful that the Springboks won again, they just had to change the laws so that they would stand a chance.
53 Go to commentsWhy would Eben lie? The guy has achieved so much. He saw it as arrogance. Any normal person who plays against the ABs year in and year out would have the same thoughts. Why even talk about the final when you have the biggest game of your lives next week in a stage you have never gotten passed? Rugly is simple in SA. Have fun but the most important thing is respect. I’m not buying any of this misinterpreted nonsense. Eben isn’t English, but no one during that interview was asking what did he say? He's speaking and therefore his understanding is perfectly fine. It was an arrogant thing to say, esp for a team that has never been to a final, never mind a semi. You guys up north can interpret it in a different way if you wish, maybe that s why you don’t win the biggest tournaments.
160 Go to comments> with Sky TV in New Zealand saying it has seen an 11 per cent lift in overall viewership this year. It’s easy for these kiwi “journalists” to throw around meaningless numbers to make it seem that things are improving, but if you look at the stats behind this 11 percent it says that after 10 rounds of rugby there is only a paltry 160k cumulative viewers in total.. That is on average 16k viewers watching a single round of Super Rugby. I very much doubt any of the other numbers that Gregor so proudly “reports” on.
38 Go to comments