By Olyy
#6804
Image


Surprised at no Dan dP - also at Yarde starting.

Like the side though - hopefully Rohan and Sam can gel in the midfield because I think that's our best combo. Arguably our best scrummaging tight 5 starting (I liked what I saw of Oosthuizen at loosehead off the bench the other week).
By chris1850
#6812
CHIEFS SIDE TO PLAY SALE SHARKS

15 Stuart Hogg
14 Jack Nowell
13 Henry Slade
12 Sam Hill
11 Ian Whitten
10 Joe Simmonds
9 Nic White
1 Alec Hepburn
2 Luke Cowan-Dickie
3 Harry Williams
4 Dave Dennis (capt)
5 Jonny Hill
6 Dave Ewers
7 Jacques Vermeulen
8 Sam Simmonds

16 Elvis Taione
17 Ben Moon
18 Marcus Street
19 Jannes Kirsten
20 Don Armand
21 Jack Maunder
22 Gareth Steenson
23 Olly Woodburn

That's a seriously strong line up
By Van Cannonball
#6814
You’d think injured given he’s not on the bench, but with Sam James back in the team we do have lots of flexibility, so could just be dropped.

As per my prediction earlier, I did think he wouldn’t start after a couple of not great performances.

I guess this is what we have to get used to now with more options in the squad.

Denny on the bench is pretty surprising to me.

Also Harrison not starting again and in a big game this time. Possibly carrying an injury, or again just recognition that we have squad options now?
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By Mike Flitcroft
#6817
Yes that's a good side, but man for man Hogg aside, not sure it's better and we have home advantage, not that we always make it count. Especially with a full house and on TV :nervous:
By AndaleManito
#6822
Mike Flitcroft wrote:
Fri Dec 06, 2019 12:41 pm
Yes that's a good side, but man for man Hogg aside, not sure it's better and we have home advantage, not that we always make it count. Especially with a full house and on TV :nervous:
Aye but think Exeter have always been more than the sum of their parts!
By Surbiton_Shark
#6824
That's quite a side that Exeter have put out.

With all the money we've put out on new players - it's time to see what they can do.

I'd imagine AJ is dropped - his kicking has been patchy, his passing ditto and the backline hasn't gelled plus it allows Sam James and Rohan to play together which wil be good.

Concerns for me will be the lineout, we've lost any big ball carriers in the forward packs so that relies on the backs.......we haven't been really able this seasin in the Prem/H Cup to put together phases as we've got a habit of dropping it or a complete inability to pass it in front of the receiver - I watch other teams on highlights and they all seem to manage it.....

However if our forward pack mans up (normally do), the lineout 'functions' or at least we win our own ball..........we kick sensible and get some magic from Ashton/Faff then in front of a home crowd we should be there or thereabouts.

The owners have spent money on being able to play at this level. timeto produce it
By ale shark
#6829
chris1850 wrote:
Fri Dec 06, 2019 12:23 pm
Is AJ dropped or injured?
AJ wasn't at the World Cup players evening on Tuesday, no reason was given that I was aware of. Doesn't really help but it may suggest he's injured.
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By Major Bloodnok
#6839
ale shark wrote:
Fri Dec 06, 2019 2:34 pm
chris1850 wrote:
Fri Dec 06, 2019 12:23 pm
Is AJ dropped or injured?
AJ wasn't at the World Cup players evening on Tuesday, no reason was given that I was aware of. Doesn't really help but it may suggest he's injured.
Someone said that he'd pulled out because of illness.
By FarnhamShark
#6840
Surbiton - while it would be nice if your comment was true - "With all the money we've put out on new players - it's time to see what they can do." the 4 international 2nd/back row players we've signed are all unavailable. With them playing I'd fancy our chances; without any of them it's going to be a struggle to get anything from this one.
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By Narbia
#6878
I'd love to be at that match - could be a good 'un. Will be keeping an eye on the scores.

Sale can win it : home advantage still counts for a lot. :)
By PappjeShark
#6881
I’d love a win in front of a sell-out crowd. However, head tells me Exeter will win and they’ll grind us down again.

Just imagine De Jäger, Beaumont, Wilson and 2x du Preez being available in the pack for this game, it’d make a heck of a difference and is why on balance I feel Exeter will win. They’re playing well, especially so in Europe, and they’ve got a very strong team out.
By Olyy
#6889
To come within a kick, after how terribly we started the game, is a reasonable result. Definitely feels like a missed opportunity though.


Those rucks at the end killed me - 2nd to last ruck was a clear knock on when the counter ruck came through and then the final ruck the ball was available for 15 seconds and the 9 was told to use it twice while he waited for the clock to go red. What's the point in having laws if they're not going to enforce them?
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By Alex
#6891
Agreed Olyy, my first reaction was he put his hand on the ball and then got driven back so it has to be a knock on.

Some positives from the game in that we fought back and didn't let them score in the second half but 5 mins of madness cost us 15 points which is always going to be decisive against a top team. If we can improve our accuracy then we'll turn these games into wins which we need to do going forward.
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By Lord Elpus
#6892
Kick the kicks, cut out the silly errors, play the ref. better, cheat better - that's the way to do it.
By Van Cannonball
#6894
Back line structure much better going forwards with Faf, RdP, RJVR.

Much as I like a lot of AJs attributes, for me he shouldn’t be starting at the minute.

Hammersley still a problem in terms of counter and attack.

In terms of forwards, we were the better teams in the scrum again, despite our big guns missing. Props doing the business. Lineout also no problem, and our narrow defence was very good again.

Only the wide tackling let us down and especially in that ridiculous 10 min spell.
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By Clutch
#6897
Thought Hammersley had his best game for us in fairness. Though he’s never going to scare defenders!
By Surbiton_Shark
#6898
Hammersely solid under the high ball. Best we’ve had in a number of seasons. He does love to run sideways a bit too much.

I still struggle to see why we don’t pass the ball to Rohan off first phase to truck it up more. We did it once in this game and he went half the field.

Still struggling with our back play. Rob has some great attributes but distributing isn’t perhaps his strongest suite and his place kicking confidence seems quite down
Another point. I know Sam only kicks on certain angles but why not let him kick more to the corners. The distance rob got was poor on some of his
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By Olyy
#6899
I, too, thought Hammersley went well.


Scrum and Lineout much improved - think having two locks definitely helps.
If Dan is back next week I'd keep Evans and Philips in the 2nd row and put him in the backrow (rest T.Curry - not based on performance but just because he's played a ton of minutes).
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By iBozz
#6905
Stuart Hogg to be monitored after failing latest HIA

Rugby Pass match report.
By Van Cannonball
#6907
The counter-intuitive problem with Hammersley is that he makes very few errors, so on the face of it he’s playing well, but what we’re missing is what we’re not seeing - I.e. a complete lack of incisiveness from 15.

Look at the damage Hogg did in 20 mins. Now Hogg is obviously class and it’s a harsh comparison, but if Ashton had the number of opportunities to run back in space that Hammersley has had this season, then I’d wager we’d have a number of more points on the board from breaks made and territory gained.
By Olyy
#6908
Lord Elpus wrote:
Sun Dec 08, 2019 7:29 pm
Why didn't Faf take a conversion?
Robs a better kicker, on the whole.
Think conditions didn't help the goal kicking - they mentioned how Simmonds hadn't missed a shot at goal all season until today
By DavenportSharky
#6937
Lots of positives from this game. Lineout, scrum and rolling maul were the best we have seen all season. Hammersley was excellent under the high ball and certainly was elusive at times. Akker had an excellent game and seems to be settling in well now. The extra muscle of Phillips makes a big difference at scrum time. Thought Luke James did well in his 2 cameos. Wonderful kicks to touch from Sam James at penalty time. Can he not kick more during open play? Denny was a step up from Marlande who had a real off day. I suspect Denny would have scored that try. I still feel Faf is too error strewn and needs to tighten up. Missed tackles in that early period lost us that game. Margins are often small and there were lots of errors that cumulative meant defeat.
Exeter on the other hand were efficient, somewhat boring and know how to waste time to great effect. Is there a more irritating player in World Rugby than the Exeter scrum half?
By Van Cannonball
#6938
Definitely need to give credit to Phillips and Evans. Both had excellent games in set piece and loose.
By stevene
#6957
thought that was the most complete pack performance of the season. lineout functioned (primarily targetting Ross and Evans), scrum was very good upto 45 mins, had a wobble for 10 mins and then got the edge when we used our replacement props. big call out to phillips who did the hard stuff really well. interesting to note our driving maul improved immensely with him on the pitch. only critique is with the subs of props which should have happened 5-10 mins earlier and cost us a scrum penalty (which they then kicked dead).

the backs were a mixed bag. faf his usual mix of energy and pace albeit the passing radar was a little wonky. keeps the defence honest though. RDP did well on the whole despite the missed conversions (tricky wind yesterday) and RJVR did his primary job very well but just didnt pick the right options. Luke James very effective. Sam James was ying and yang. Kicking, won a turnover and great hands the ying. His first half tackling very much a yang. Yarde, too big a game too soon. Dont blame him for the try but the defensive errors were very costly. Clearly solomona isnt 100% fit but why not start mcguigan on the left?

yesterday showed how important the lineout is as we played with a pace and purpose with more ball. just a little bit frentic in their 22.
By twn
#6986
That was an encouraging albeit ultimately frustrating performance, given the number of missed opportunities that, if taken, would have seen us to a brilliant home win against a strong Chiefs side.

The forward pack really stepped up today in terms of set-piece and the work Evans and Phillips put in was admirable if slightly unexpected. I do still look at our list of returners and wonder what we could do when we have a number of them back in the side and firing.

The backs looked far more incisive yesterday in my opinion. Given the amount of chopping and changing that's gone on it must be difficult, as clearly combinations take time to gel. I think that is our strongest centre pairing, although JVR does need to play with his head up slightly more to really capitalise on his bullocking breaks. Sam James is a fantastic footballer who showed some welcome silky touches, although I think we must accept that he always has a crucial missed tackle in him which is unfortunate.

Hammersley was superb again today I thought, I'm struggling to understand the criticism he's received over the past couple of weeks where I really think he's stepped up. Once again he was rock solid at the back positionally and under the high ball - something we were crying out for last season. He also beat 7 defenders which was more than any other player on the park. I believe he made more metres than any player in the Premiership last year and although admittedly does not seem to have been as successful so far this year, I am confident it will come and is indeed coming - he has at least been providing reliability. Perhaps he is operating to a slightly different gameplan under Dimes than he was at Newcastle where he did seem to be their go-to option in search of metres, he seems to be working in a more distributory role at Sale and has not had the same amount of opportunities in attack thus far. He does always seem to evade the first couple of tacklers after taking the high ball and has been a great signing so far in my opinion
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By Lord Elpus
#6990
To me Hammersely seemed to make more metres playing for the Budgies against us than he makes playing for us.

Agree Phillips had a good game, all the backs except Yarde had both good and bad moments. We should learn from Exeter's patience in attacking positions. As stated above we get far too frenetic and usually end up knocking on or conceding a penalty.

As for White - in the "good old days" he would have been sorted out by someone like Diamond.
By Clutch
#7024
Re Hammersley. He was good, no question and your analysis is spot on, albeit slightly ott in my opinion.

The problem is around our attack as a whole and getting the right balance. I have no problem with Hammersley starting, though his one on one tackling is extremely questionable. It’s the combo. If we play AJ S James and Hammersley we have good players but no real pace in the team. That makes life much easier for defenders. It’s not so much Hammersley’s fault, but a collective problem. If we had J Joseph at 13 it would be less of an issue.

One example, and it’s lazy to pick out one, was the Rohan break. James and Hammersley were nowhere near him. Ashton with his pace from 15 would have been on the shoulder of Rohan. That could be the difference between a try and a nice clean break that comes to nothing.
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By MikeGC
#7025
Clutch wrote:
Tue Dec 10, 2019 12:54 pm

One example, and it’s lazy to pick out one, was the Rohan break. James and Hammersley were nowhere near him. Ashton with his pace from 15 would have been on the shoulder of Rohan. That could be the difference between a try and a nice clean break that comes to nothing.
Yarde was near enough and Rensburg ignored him. His reaction when Yarde approached him wasn't in the slightest contrite.
By Van Cannonball
#7045
Mike - that’s not the break Clutch is referring to. The one in the first half probably should have gone to Yarde but the it was all a bit of a scrambled mess after Rob broke through.

The missed opportunity was the 2nd half break where Rohan went half the pitch and didn’t have anyone to offload to.
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By Yareet
#7072
Clutch wrote:
Tue Dec 10, 2019 12:54 pm

One example, and it’s lazy to pick out one, was the Rohan break. James and Hammersley were nowhere near him. Ashton with his pace from 15 would have been on the shoulder of Rohan. That could be the difference between a try and a nice clean break that comes to nothing.
If memory serves (I was a few Guinnesses down by then) the break was down the middle of the park. Why can't Ashy use his pace off the wing to be on RJvR's shoulder? Or indeed Denny? Or better yet, both.

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