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High praise online for Exeter's 'second team'
By Josh Raisey
According to the 2019/20 Gallagher Premiership table, Tuesday’s meeting between Bristol Bears and Exeter Chiefs was an encounter between the two best teams in England. The Chiefs came out on top 25-22 at Ashton Gate, opening up an eleven-point lead in the league over their rivals and giving themselves a spring in their step should the two sides face each other in the playoffs.
Following their Premiership victory over Sale last Friday at the AJ Bell, it was a much-changes Exeter outfit, so much of the talk (and trolling) after the game online by Devonians - as well as fans across the country - was about how a second-string Chiefs XV could topple the side who were second to them in the table.
While it would be wrong to label Tuesday’s victors a second-team, there were undoubtedly star names missing; more than ten in truth.
Bristol themselves were shy of a few first-choice players, but certainly not as many as Rob Baxter’s side were.
It was a close game where Bristol only woke up in the second half, but a lot of praise has been directed at the Chiefs who are now firm favourites to win the league this season and take the title from automatically regelated Saracens.
What Tuesday did perhaps highlight was that there is no such thing as a second-team at Exeter. Such is the depth that their standard doesn't dip even with a raft of changes.
Bristol, meanwhile, will continue to develop with a team that has seen an influx of new faces in recent weeks. Players will be rotated, though, as they already have, and the question remains as to whether they - or any other team in England - have the depth to rival the Chiefs.
Squad rotation is key in such a congested period and Olly Woodburn provided a vivid visualisation as to why that is true against Bristol. Having been the only Exeter player to start all three games in a ten-day period, the winger pulled up with a groin injury in the second half which allowed Ioan Lloyd to score.
Baxter will know that he will have to continue to rest his players, particularly given their ambitions in the Heineken Champions Cup in September, but he knows a strong performance will come from whatever players he fields.
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Latest Comments
Nah, that just needs some more variation. Chip kicks, grubber stabs, all those. Will Jordan showed a pretty good reason why the rush was bad for his link up with BB.
If you have an overlap on a rush defense, they naturally cover out and out and leave a huge gap near the ruck.
It also helps if both teams play the same rules. ARs set the offside line 1m past where the last mans feet were😅
Go to commentsYeah nar, should work for sure. I was just asking why would you do it that way?
It could be achieved by outsourcing all your IP and players to New Zealand, Japan, and America, with a big Super competition between those countries raking it in with all of Australia's best talent to help them at a club level. When there is enough of a following and players coming through internally, and from other international countries (starting out like Australia/without a pro scene), for these high profile clubs to compete without a heavy australian base, then RA could use all the money they'd saved over the decades to turn things around at home and fund 4 super sides of their own that would be good enough to compete.
That sounds like a great model to reset the game in Aus. Take a couple of decades to invest in youth and community networks before trying to become professional again. I just suggest most aussies would be a bit more optimistic they can make it work without the two decades without any pro club rugby bit.
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