[Lord Elpus]

[Surbiton_Shark]

I’ll admit that’s frustrating as I’m going and we’re clearly sending not our first choice. Exeter have picked a very strong side.

I suspect a character building match in process

[Lord Elpus]

..and keeping the saffers safe for the GP.

[StalyShark]

This isn’t going to go well. Happy with keeping it under 45.

[Clutch]

Not sure I would. It’s not a bad team. Intrigued by Redpath at 15. Bench looks weak but at least Warr and Curtis will hopefully get minutes.

[Surbiton_Shark]

It does smack of a BP try count for Exeter before first time starting it off with a rolling maul before they take their foot of the pedal and we come back into it during the second half....

However, like clutch, interested to see how Redpath goes at 15 - I wasn't overly impressed with him at centre so he may get more space/time at 15 - I do think Luke James has been terrific this season (and last) so good to see what he can do. Struggling a bit to see where we can break down Exeter with back play but we haven't been able to hardly break anyone down in the prem anyhow.

I like Langdon and Hammison had a very stop/start season thus far so hopefully he is fired up - good to have Phillips in and the back row will be good. Will at 9 generally kicks better and passes a lot more accurately than Faff so it could be interesting.

Fear is we get totally outmuscled

If we're putting these side out for Exeter - I wonder what we'll do for La Rochelle away - I'm also going to that!

[Olyy]

Strange side - half given-up-on-Europe but then also a bunch of first choicers (would've thought at least one or two of double curry/Ross would get a rest)

[Mike Flitcroft]

Correct me if I'm wrong, as you surely will, and I know it's a big ask but looking at the pool tables seems we can still get a max of 18 points with BP at Exeter? and qualify as one of the three runners up. No? I can't see La Rochelle, Bath, Ospreys, Benetton or Connacht doing any better. With two wins we could still qualify with 15? depending on other results of course.

[Elgar]

Makes sense to me to prioritise the GP at this point. (I actually don't think getting near parity upfront with the selected pack should be quite as much of a lost cause some are suggesting)

Redpath at 15 seems well worth a go. And great to see him, Warr, Langdon, Poss, Curtis get the exposure.

[DavenportSharky]

I would guess that the South Africans are on their Christmas leave and are sunning themselves back home right now. Mainly EQ players for a change. Good chance for these players to compete for starting selection in the coming weeks. Is Rob Webber fit?

[chris1850]

Rob is out for another month at least apparently

[Buelligansmate]

Broken bone in his hand

[StalyShark]

La Rochelle have really helped us out. Any late stomach bugs happening in the Sale hotel tonight I wonder...

[IrishShark]

La Rochelle have really helped us out. Any late stomach bugs happening in the Sale hotel tonight I wonder...

A win tomorrow and we can still make a 1/4 final under our own steam

[Oldham Shark]

This is pathetic and I'm really annoyed. We have every chance of getting through with a win tomorrow so why aren't we going for it?? What happened to us wanting to be at the top table and competing with the best in Europe? How can we possibly give up at this point? So our only only intent is to finish in the top four of the league? Jesus, I give up.

[Van Cannonball]

If we’re honest, it’s highly unlikely we’d win the game, even with first choice selection. We’ve won once at Sandy Park ever.

If we’d had Lood, Josh, Wilson, Webber and both Du Preez twins available for the last few games, we’d have the option to go stronger.

Harrison was first choice last year, JCW was universally praised as a signing. AJ and Luke get lots of good press on this board, so in terms of who’s available but rested:

The big calls for those rested are Akker, Bryn, Faf and Rohan. To be fair Bryn has probably played more mins than he expected for half a season, so needs a rest. Faf can’t play every game after 2 years of continuous rugby. Akker has looked great but has started almost every game. Rohan is precious and again can’t play every game.

I understand that this is Europe and should have the strongest selection, but given results to date in both the league and Europe I think this is the right move. The alternative is a likely loss tomorrow anyway and then a loss again to Saints, at which point the league starts looking pretty ropey. However, if we can win that one then with confidence into Bath and Quins we could get on a roll.

[Oldham Shark]

And if we'd won in Glasgow what team would we have out? I suspect a strong one. So if we still have a chance why not go for it? If we lose tomorrow we have two other European weekends to rest players. If we have a chance then we should go for it. Either we are in it or we're not. Are you saying all we're interested in is the league? That'll make us a European force, a big club and entice fans and players in for sure. Are we going for our own personal Brexit?

[Van Cannonball]

I’m saying I think the league is more important this year than Europe. To expect to qualify first year back is unrealistic. If we had all our big signings available it would be different. You can say it would be different if we’d beaten Glasgow or Exeter, but unfortunately we didn’t.

Resting players for the final 2 cup games won’t make them fresh for the Saints game.

[Olyy]

Biggest call is Cam at 15, imo - has he ever played there at senior level?

Whilst I think Luke is a much better centre, surely he should be at 15 considering he played a chunk of last season there and, by the end, looked pretty damn good.

Hell I'd have taken Yarde starting with Byron at 15.


I get that we've a number of injuries, and we've all but given up on Europe (which seems premature considering the Glasgow result today) but some of the selections do seem a little strange.

Especially starting Tom again - when exactly is he going to get some rest? He can't play all 80 every game after having no off/pre-season and playing almost every minute of the world cup. Eventually he'll break - if we really have no one else in the backrow I would've benched him and started Cam.



Negativity aside, I'm looking forward to seeing if Warr/Curtis get some game time - it's going to a tough time coming off the bench away from home against the league leaders who are gunning for a top seed in Europe, but by all accounts those two are the future so it's good to see them involved.

[Philthefluter]

Very disappointed. Giving up with 3 games to play? Made to look even more stupid after Glasgow's defeat yesterday. Second place was within our grasp.

[ale shark]

Even with 0 points today second is well within our grasp. We should be happy with that in our first season back. We’ll still have a lot to play for in the last 2 games and we need to boost our Euro ranking to not be in pot 4 again.

Just beating Glasgow at home might be enough to get second in the group.

[IrishShark]

5 spots where we aren't playing our first choice and people are saying we've given Up? Our so called first fifteen aren't winning much either so I'm happy with mixing it up a little.

[Van Cannonball]

Byron was shockingly bad at 15 for the first batch of games last season.

Agreed Luke was surprisingly effective there last year, but hes needed at centre, and I think he’s better there, whilst Cam definitely has attributes to play at 15.

I would guess Tom will get a break for a few games once Wilson is available and Dan is back.

[Olyy]

Langdon's darts making my praise of him look a little foolish atm

Do we have a new lineout coach or something? None of our players can throw straight this season, even when they were spot on in the past

[Olyy]

We're dropping like flies atm,

Redpath and B.Curry already off,
Jono playing through a shoulder injury he picked up early on - Solomona currently injured and I think Yarde playing through what looked like an elbow or shoulder issue he got not long after coming on to the pitch

[Lord Elpus]

All the usual silly errors making it easy for Exeter. AJM no idea of how to play with the wind.

[StalyShark]

Pretty dull stuff so far.

I don’t think there’s a player I like less than Dave Ewers. Thug.

[wrinklieshark]

Well considering the opposition and the conditions and this so called second team we have selected, being only 7-3 down at half time looks pretty good. And throwing straight in a howling gale is probably not too easy!

[StalyShark]

Said the same last year but I’m so glad I’m not a Chiefs fan; so so dull.

[Olyy]

Weird decision there - I could've understood penalising the high tackle from Byron (though it's harsh as Simmonds was diving for the line so it wasn't aimed high at all) but to penalise Jono for getting tripped up?

[StalyShark]

[Olyy]

As expected, really.

Good to see Postlethwaite, Curtis and Warr get some game time though.

Hope none of the injuries are bad.

[Lord Elpus]

Too easy for Exeter who managed to throw straight for their lines-out in the 2nd half.

[MikeGC]

Weird decision there - I could've understood penalising the high tackle from Byron (though it's harsh as Simmonds was diving for the line so it wasn't aimed high at all) but to penalise Jono for getting tripped up?

The referee clearly had the opinion that Ross dropped a knee into Simmons as he scored.
As was said in commentary, that sort of thing needs to stop.
Ross had no chance of making a tackle or preventing a try.
Lucky that the referee didn’t think it warranted a yellow (for clarity, I didn’t either but unfamiliar referees make strange decisions)

[StalyShark]

Think it’s time for a new man to take over/add to the attack coaching as it’s not working.

[Clutch]

It worked last week.

Cliff is extremely limited in attack. I know he set the try up, but that’s probably the best thing I’ve seen him do in attack. AJ isn’t good enough. This is his 4th season. He can play well when Faf makes space for him but so can most 10s. Difficult to judge the attack coaching when that’s the case. AJ was our top carrier this week. Your 10 shouldn’t be taking the ball into contact that often unless he’s an extremely strong lad. AJ has good footwork but he’s ludicrously slow. His short range passing game is poor and his kicking from hand and general game management aren’t great either (he’s not strengths as well of course)
We need to be moving on from him and Cliff as second choice options if we want to challenge top 4.

[StalyShark]

If it worked last week then we would have won with all the pressure we put on them.
When was the last time we scored a try off a set play from the backs?!

[Clutch]

Not sure you can blame the attack coaching when we are going for scrum push over tries!

Worked well maybe an exaggeration but it was certainly better.

At some point we do need to look at this. It’s been over a year since we haven’t been clicking. However consistency at 9/10/12/13 makes a big difference.

[StalyShark]

Being the masochist that I am I decided to watch the game again and the thing to note is how many times the Chiefs players make zero attempt to stay on their feet at the ruck. Really is killing the game how they are allowed to do these repeatedly. It is one aspect of refereeing that needs to be enforced far more.

[Clutch]

And then he pinged Yarde for it after about 60 mins. No two ways about it. That’s how Chiefs are so effective close to the line. Refs also ask other teams to stay up
more often where has Chiefs get away with it more due to their reputation of excellence close to the line. They are very good at it obviously.

[Lord Elpus]

Chiefs are good at it because they latch on together overpowering single tacklers who can't latch on. Frequently one attacker is in front of the ball carrier which means the tackler can't get near the ball carrier.

Re RL coaching which we have - the most potent RL weapon given our distinctly poor handling and passing is the grubber to the base of the posts from about 10m. out. We never try this.

[DavenportSharky]

This game was always going to be a tall order. We are not the only team who can’t cope with them 5m out. They are boringly efficient with low error count. Jono obviously finds White as irritating as I do. I would not want to watch them every week despite Nowell and Slade. Ewers must be one of the clumsiest around as we seem to require sutures galore. The wind is as useful to them as artificial pitches are to Saracens and Worcester. Baxter has to be admired even if not copied.
There were positives. Warr and Curtis (18!)were lively. Postlethwaite, Langdon and Cam Neild got some game time. Luke James matures every game. Sam James and James Phillips played very well. Byron looked sharp and Yarde will have gained confidence after last week. The wind apart, our lineout seems to have turned a corner despite the absence of Josh, Lood and Bryn. Consequently our maul is improving too. Sadly we were denied the Redpath experiment.
Although Cliff is never going to be a Faf, he brings some maturity, predictability and reliabilty. His passing was accurate with no grubbers or passes that sail over the wings into touch. His box kicking caused problems despite the wind.
I sometimes wonder whether this competition would be better as a simple knockout like the FACup? The Challenge Cup could be dumped and there would be a chance of resting players without the meaningless games like we have left. Still a French weekend away for some and some good experience for the Jets compensates.

[Olyy]

I thought Cliff played well,
I also didn't think AJ was as bad as is being made out.

Half backs were always in for a torrid time in those conditions and against that Exe side.

I'd be interested to see how many 9/10/12/13 combinations we've put out this season - it's hard to find fluency in the backs when it changes every week.

[Clutch]

Didn’t think AJ was bad. More of a general conclusion. Cliff also played well in the conditions. . It’s all relative. Both aren’t good enough. I’d love to see the average points scored when they both play.

[AndaleManito]

AJ really been in terrible form this season for Sale. His best asset was his kicking and that hasn't gone well. Agree that he looks good outside Faf, but who wouldn't?

Also, as much as I rate Jono Ross as a player (he should be one of the first names down in our strongest 15), his ref chat is abysmal. I've mentioned it before. Whatever you think of the decision, if you're laughing at the ref to his face when you've given a few penalties away in quick succession, you're never going to win him over.

Jono is a great leader, but I can't think of a worse captain at talking to the ref in the prem, apart from maybe Tom Youngs. When Bryn deputised he was so much better.

[Surbiton_Shark]

I was at the ground a bit early and watched our lineout practice. Two lines - one iwith the starters and one with the subs........

I reckon Cam hit his jumper around 70% of the time, Akker - prob 30%............it didn't really inspire confidence.

Thought we did well to keep the score as close as it was for halftime. They didn't overly threaten our line bar one break mind you - we didn't threaten much either bar Denny who from watching live (haven't seen any replays) I thought could have done better with his chance by drawing the man and passing instead he hoofed it out on the full.

Second half - nice start then it all went belly up - when we went to 14 (how many times this season....) it was game over.

Lineout continues to be a serious issue - even when we win it - it's not 'clean'. I don't think Exeter lost one before someone blames the weather

Continuing concern on the backs - we neither have the physical presence to batter a whole nor the ability to be accurate to break down a defense. Our view was behind the posts (awful view - very restricted) - the majority of the time our players are lined up stood still waiting for the ball - I remember once Sam and Denny tried a move but that was about it.

Exeter was a nice place to visit! - the rugby is fast becoming the low point of the weekend trips away sadly. I'm booked for La Rochelle and wonder what sort of team we'll put out.