[Narbia]

Time to rotate the squad? Hope they give some of the guys who played on Monday a run-out for the first team.

A bonus point here would be most welcome. Go get 'em boys !

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[DaveAitch]

"A bonus point here would be most welcome."

I presume you are aiming for a bonus point win.

[SixNineOne]

"A bonus point here would be most welcome."

I presume you are aiming for a bonus point win.

What’s a “win”? I don’t think we’re familiar with the concept…

[Ruckinggood]

Time to rotate the squad? Hope they give some of the guys who played on Monday a run-out for the first team.

I am not sure that KK has the .. err.. gumption to rest players and make wholesale changes. I really wish he would and pick players on form rather than rep. With a forced change at flanker I would expect to see SOB on the bench with ICH starting again but will be give Phipps the boot?? Doubt it! will he give Paddy a rest.. highly unlikely - Any points from this game are crucial not only for moral but for reestablishing faith in a coaching set up that has failed to deliver IMHO.

[Narbia]

I presume you are aiming for a bonus point win.

Mind you; if you roll the die often enough, it'll come up a 6 at some point.

[Narbia]

Any points from this game are crucial not only for moral but for reestablishing faith in a coaching set up that has failed to deliver IMHO.

I agree, there's tired bodies in some of the players, and there's fringe players champing at the bit just to pull on the shirt and get stuck in.

Being stubborn isn't going to achieve much down at fortress Sandy Park. Visited a few times and I've never seen the visitors win (- which is why I'm not going Saturday.)

Some pragmatism to focus on the next home game, would be welcome.

[DaveAitch]

Perhaps the answer is for the team to take to the pitch dressed as cowboys. A win would certainly be a feather in the cap.

[shimmieandshake]

Hands up if you saw Tom Pearson coming.

[Stevie J]

London Irish:
15 Tom Parton, 14 Ben Loader, 13 Curtis Rona. 12 Terrence Hepetema, 11 Ollie Hassell-Collins, 10 Paddy Jackson, 9 Nick Phipps, 1 Will Goodrick-Clarke, 2 Agustin Creevy, 3 Ollie Hoskins, 4 Steve Mafi, 5 Rob Simmons, 6 Matt Rogerson (c), 7 Tom Pearson, 8 Albert Tuisue.

Replacements:
16 Mike Willemse, 17 Allan Dell, 18 Marcel van der Merwe, 19 George Nott, 20 Jack Cooke, 21 Ben White, 22 Rory Jennings, 23 Benhard van Rensburg.

So we’ve: rotated the props, and are down both Donnell and ICH at 7 so in steps Tom Pearson. Backs unchanged. Willemse and Cooke to bench. No sign of Coleman or SOB (shocked face).

Bookies have us as the second biggest underdogs of the weekend, the spread is -18. Only Wasps have bigger odds, with-30 being given.

[Narbia]

Hands up if you saw Tom Pearson coming.

Out of the blue, but I salute the coaches for taking a small but necessary step.
Having looked at his stats, this young guy is the type of giant we need against Chiefs.

Glad also to see SOME sort of rotation elsewhere too.

[Grumpy1960]

Any points gleamed from this game would truly be a bonus

Team should have more players rotated and PJ should be on a well deserved rest

[Grantham Exile]

A reminder to all that this game is LIVE on BT sport 3,, programme starts 2.30pm

[Lazyboy346]

Good result, that has been coming for a while. Makes up for chances eluding us to win previously.

[DaveAitch]

"A bonus point here would be most welcome."

I presume you are aiming for a bonus point win.

Say no more!

[Narbia]

"A bonus point here would be most welcome."

I presume you are aiming for a bonus point win.

Say no more!

I tip my hat to you,sir, as you're the only one who may have seen that as a possibility.

[Florida]

Well I was hopelessly pessimistic going into that match. What a performance.

Whenever I watch Exeter, no matter who they play I always expect them to get back into the game. They trust their processes, stick to them, keep doing the basics and get themselves back into it. Not today though, we frustrated them, we made them sloppy and made them look ordinary.

[SixNineOne]

I was sitting next to a Chiefs supporter at the game who started off pretty gloomy before kick off and got progressively gloomier as the game went on. I tried to console him by telling him about our legendary ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory but he was having none of it. I think he summed it up pretty well when he said that it looked like we wanted it far more than the Chiefs. From where I was sitting, I think we got the rub if the green with some of Sir’s decisions, but you can’t escape the fact that we outplayed them in attack and our defence was pretty decent too. At last Declan has been proved right…

[DaveAitch]

I had your game on the TV while keeping an eye on Leicester v Sale on my phone. BT kicked a good one.
I did think when Exeter got back into the game that Irish might fold, but I think overall they got better. One more try and you would have been ahead of Sale in the table.

Just to add on the decisions: rub of the green? Possibly, but I think Exeter were being pulled up for things they normally get away with.

[shimmieandshake]

It's been coming, though I didn't expect it to come today.

Albert, Hoskins and WGC stood out for me. Massive shift from all three. Rona and Rogerson also very good.

I thought Tom Pearson was absolutely class. Would've been my MOTM. Made lots of nasty tackles and yards, and a pest at the breakdown. Strikes me as more of a 6 than a 7, but that was a very, very promising start.

Anyway, over the moon with that, let's hope it can galvanise our season.

[Stevie J]

Of course with being completely written off and more than a few people (me, included) saying we should rotate the squad they go straight down and win at Sandy Park. With a bonus point.

I couldn’t watch live but having rewatched it certainly the defence stands out. We were able to drift but not get caught biting in and leaving gaps for Exeter to run through. Pearson can be very proud with his debut, 76 minutes is something else. Made a few small mistakes including at least one penalty but not many better debuts.

If we can be that clinical in attack and hard to beat in defence then maybe we can take the next step. The trick now is playing at home against Bristol, what looks like a very winnable tie, is maintaining that standard. We’ve seemingly stopped giving the opposition a head start which always helps.

Restarts though, remain, blimmin’ awful…!

[Florida]

Restarts though, remain, blimmin’ awful…!

Indeed, as do attacking lineouts. Gives them something to work on during the week and put in an even better performance next week

[Grumpy1960]

Steve J ,
Restarts have always been a bone of contention and a weakness for a very long time . We seem to conspire to #uck it up and cough the ball back to the opposition more than not .

[M_W]

Well that game was a welcome relief after the way the season has gone to date. Wasn't even too much of a last play nail biter in the end. Cracking performance and would be great to back it up against Bristol next week.

A few thoughts.

- The win was built on superb defence. Yes they broke through the middle a couple of times for tries, but that happens when a team has good as Exeter have a lot of ball. For large parts of that game we looked completely in control of the situation when they were attacking.
- Physicality of the forwards was superb. We spent the whole game winning collisions and putting them on the back foot as a result.
- The starting props were superb. Huge hits in defence (both with 20+ tackles) and hit the line at pace on the carry. Hoskins' work in the lead up to Rona's try was excellent. We didn't get the reward but it was good to see us dominate their scrum after Dell and vdM cam on too.
- Turned over a lot of ball, with Tuisue a huge threat there as usual.
- Great debut for Pearson. He was actually the top tackler after the stats were revised and looked very quick footed throughout. Both he and ICH have looked like better options than Donnell in the last week or two.
-9s were both good. White especially is proving a superb signing.
- Still pretty reliant on Creevy at hooker. I'm not convinced by Cornish or Willemse's ability to hit their man in key lineouts.

[MattM]

He's not been called out as yet but I thought Simmons was immense for Irish. His constant graft is easily overlooked but he never relents and does all the little unseen work so well.

[M_W]

Yep, Simmons has really stepped it up lately. In him, Coleman and Mafi, we've three top quality locks which has been an area of weakness since the Casey/Kennedy days.

[SixNineOne]

I was asked after the match who I thought was our standout player and I found it pretty difficult to answer. I was tempted to say Ollie Hoskins who put in a very eye catching shift, but the truth of the matter is that everyone had a very good game - hence the result! The defence was awesome and the attack looked well drilled and potent most of the time. We played as a team and showed real hunger from 1-23.

But there are still a few of those old chestnuts to deal with. Our kick off receipt was still wobbly, although I couldn’t understand why Joe Simmonds didn’t go left and target Albert who was standing all alone, as he’d have been guaranteed to drop it! There is also a developing theme when OHC is given the ball in unstructured play - he tends to try to go wide and hence run away from his support, meaning he often gets turned over in the tackle. The one which causes me most frustration, though, is our line outs in the opposition 22 with a new hooker on the pitch. We always call it to the tail in the hope of quick ball, but every time it gets overthrown. We need to recognise this and call a nice safe ball, even if it means we have to go through a couple more phases. All in all though, it’s great to be commenting on points of detail rather than calling for wholesale changes in our recruitment/coaching/ squad/team selection/ water boys/meat pie selection…

[Florida]

I was really impressed with us not trying to force things in attack. In previous games we've thrown the ball around like its a hot potato in a desperate attempt to get passed the on rushing defensive line. We didn't do that this time (not too much anyway), we allowed them to rush us and then used foot work or clever passes to change direction or get round the defender.

[GC89]

Agreed with that Florida. It was a really mature performance in attack and defence, missing the recklessness we often see. The only other game I can remember us winning in a similarly “controlled” fashion was the first game at the BCS, versus Leicester. Every other win has been pretty frantic. I hope we take note and execute a similar game plan against Bristol. We can still play exciting Rugby without forcing the 50-50s.

[Stevie J]

Agreed with all of that - plus its going to be wet Saturday https://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/2654787 if we believe the forecast.

If Bristol elect to do their running from everywhere thing as usual, I'd be more than happy to defend, pick up the knock-ons and work with short fields.