Leinster v Exeter

[footrush]

Its embarrassing to be losing to a rabble like Exeter. They are a team of second rate players. Get it together lads FFS!!!

Not sure if you were in Sandy Park or not, its a real pity that you have such a poor view of Exeter, I find it hard to believe you were at the game if you had been or were at the round one home game in the RDS you would be unlikely to say that about them. Your comments now have their own string on the chiefs forum congratulations : http://www.rugbynetwork.net/boards/read ... 8,13781821

[Logorrhea]

Well if the chiefs fans want to select and highlight a statement like that (which no one on here bothered to respond to), and tar the Leinster fans as a group with it, then thats up to them really.

Edit: Just read the thread on thier forum. They saw the post for what it was, fair play to em.

[fourthirtythree]

Its embarrassing to be losing to a rabble like Exeter. They are a team of second rate players. Get it together lads FFS!!!

Not sure if you were in Sandy Park or not, its a real pity that you have such a poor view of Exeter, I find it hard to believe you were at the game if you had been or were at the round one home game in the RDS you would be unlikely to say that about them. Your comments now have their own string on the chiefs forum congratulations : http://www.rugbynetwork.net/boards/read ... 8,13781821

Winning against them in the first round was our one piece of good luck. Didn't deserve it and had that not been their first European cup game I think they might have got the scalp.

As it were.

And yes, I know the scalping thing was actually Europeans collecting bounties on killing native americans rather than the other way around.

[sid]

Meh, in the heat of the moment it's easy to get carried away - I've said plenty of things at games that I've regretted. Obviously Exeter aren't a rabble, but I can well see how someone could get frustrated at how we were playing. I don't think it should be a big deal.

[Donny B.]

Thank you for allowing me to join in discussion on your forum over the last few months, during which time I hope I've been able to impart some local knowledge back to your travelling Supporters, on our City of Exeter, and our Club Exeter Chiefs.

To a man, women and child, all your travelling Supporters I met in Exeter were absolute ambasadors for the game of Rugby, and a great credit to your Club in the way they overcame severe travel disruptions to get to Exeter.

The match at Sandy Park was a wonderful occasion, enhanced by the presence of The Blue Army !

I and many Chiefs Supporters also thoroughly enjoyed our visit to Dublin, and your great Club.

I therefore find it very sad today to read through the "drivel " posted on this thread, from your " armchair Supporters " which has somehow left a nasty taste !

Again thank you to the travelling Blue army, and I hope you had an easier journey home, and hopefully our paths will cross again

Wild Tooth

Don't let a few gobshites on here spoil it for you WT.

We had a great trip and even though we knew we hadn't done enough, I was still glad I travelled. We got separated from the main group of Leinster fans on the east terrace so it was just two of us down near the 22 in among all the Chiefs regulars, one of which I found out later was you apparently!

We had a brilliant laugh though, the banter was flying pretty thick back and forth but it was all in good fun and everyone there shook our hands afterwards and wished us well. Great welcome from a real, traditional rugby club both before and after the match and great to talk to so many knowledgeable and respectful fans. I genuinely hope you qualify again because it's a great trip, especially when compared to soul-less clubs like Saracens and Wasps.

On the game itself, Exeter did their fans proud, putting it up to us for 80 minutes in a way a French team with nothing to play for never would. Neither set of fans was happy with Poite, he's just an awful ref who makes it up as he goes along and I've been saying this for years. We could have scored a few more tries but in the end, it wasn't the last two rounds that killed us, it was the first four.

Anyway best of luck for the future.

[Stuka]

Its embarrassing to be losing to a rabble like Exeter. They are a team of second rate players. Get it together lads FFS!!!

Not sure if you were in Sandy Park or not, its a real pity that you have such a poor view of Exeter, I find it hard to believe you were at the game if you had been or were at the round one home game in the RDS you would be unlikely to say that about them. Your comments now have their own string on the chiefs forum congratulations : http://www.rugbynetwork.net/boards/read ... 8,13781821

I was not in Sandy park, nor was I in the RDS for the first game.

I don't have a poor view of Exeter as a place or as a club. I do think it is embarrassing to be losing at HT to a team with the resources, record and player quality of your team though. We are/were the HC champs, we have world class players and a world class coach. I find it frustrating when we don't click and smash a team consisting of journeymen.

Lets face facts here. Not one of the Exeter players would be within and asses roar of getting in that Leinster team.

[johng]

Its embarrassing to be losing to a rabble like Exeter. They are a team of second rate players. Get it together lads FFS!!!

Not sure if you were in Sandy Park or not, its a real pity that you have such a poor view of Exeter, I find it hard to believe you were at the game if you had been or were at the round one home game in the RDS you would be unlikely to say that about them. Your comments now have their own string on the chiefs forum congratulations : http://www.rugbynetwork.net/boards/read ... 8,13781821

I was not in Sandy park, nor was I in the RDS for the first game.

I don't have a poor view of Exeter as a place or as a club. I do think it is embarrassing to be losing at HT to a team with the resources, record and player quality of your team though. We are/were the HC champs, we have world class players and a world class coach. I find it frustrating when we don't click and smash a team consisting of journeymen.

Lets face facts here. Not one of the Exeter players would be within and asses roar of getting in that Leinster team.

So what you were really trying to say was "Well done Exeter for playing with such heart despite being out of the competition. You are way more than the sum of your parts"

You just put it in a slightly more insulting way?

[The Doc]

Its embarrassing to be losing to a rabble like Exeter. They are a team of second rate players. Get it together lads FFS!!!

Not sure if you were in Sandy Park or not, its a real pity that you have such a poor view of Exeter, I find it hard to believe you were at the game if you had been or were at the round one home game in the RDS you would be unlikely to say that about them. Your comments now have their own string on the chiefs forum congratulations : http://www.rugbynetwork.net/boards/read ... 8,13781821

I was not in Sandy park, nor was I in the RDS for the first game.

I don't have a poor view of Exeter as a place or as a club. I do think it is embarrassing to be losing at HT to a team with the resources, record and player quality of your team though. We are/were the HC champs, we have world class players and a world class coach. I find it frustrating when we don't click and smash a team consisting of journeymen.

Lets face facts here. Not one of the Exeter players would be within and asses roar of getting in that Leinster team.

I'd take their 7 in a hearbeat - he messed us up all evening. Also - their 6 (who went off injured) has been called up to the English 6 nations squad - he was pretty decent until he went off.

That's two off the top of my head. They were missing a couple of props if I remember rightly and they gave us trouble in the scrums in the RDS when they had full choice. I'd also say their second rows probably had the better game (in the set pieces at least).

EDIT : They also beat Quins at home and qualified for the HEC on merit - so are just as justified being there (if not more) than a number of the RP12 teams if being honest.

[Stuka]

[/quote]

So what you were really trying to say was "Well done Exeter for playing with such heart despite being out of the competition. You are way more than the sum of your parts"

You just put it in a slightly more insulting way?[/quote]


Not really...

I am saying I am very frustrated that the Leinster team could not raise their game enough to swat these lads aside. I'm not saying they dont have heart... the fact of the matter is they are a VERY limited team and we should have had the brains and game plan to score 6 or 7. We had the chances but blew them.

I know I'm coming across as an arrogant p**ck but I dont care. We should have smashed them home and away.

Their 7 had a good game but he was allowed to. If Jeno had been on the pitch then i would suggest that their 7 would not have been as influencial.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

I know I'm coming across as an arrogant p**ck but I dont care. We should have smashed them home and away.

Their 7 had a good game but he was allowed to. If Jeno had been on the pitch then i would suggest that their 7 would not have been as influencial.

You do know that we beat them both times? And the second was with a bonus point away from home? We'd a lot of injuries for the first game and had players coming back late from Ireland duty. The important thing was to win and we did that. Then we had a lot of guys just back from injury on Saturday and couldn't keep up the same intensity after the 4th try, understandable. Now I think we could have made changes and thought we were poor tactically but Exeter are a good side and very well organised so to do what we did was still impressive. I fully expected us to get 5 points but I didn't expect it to be easy and it wasn't.

[fourthirtythree]

I didn't fully expect the five points, but I wasn't sure what their front rows were like not having watched them properly in a while.

[BlueBlue]

Fair play to Exeter, we knew what we were in for, and Exeter delivered in spades, Exeter and their supporters should be very proud and its easy to see why. If only more teams in the H-cup would play with this sort of pride in their club, the integrity of the competition would benefit. Great fans, an example to all in the Avia premiership, slackers in the Top14 please take note.

Well done Exeter on all 6 of your pool games, the competition was better with you in it

[LeRouxIsPHat]

There hasn't been much talk of tactics/performance given that the attention shifted to the Munster game after it.

In a way, scoring in the manner that we did so early kind of hurt us imo. Joe obviously sent them out with the idea that we had to earn the right to go wide and that's absolutely fine but I think it went a bit too far the other way. Our ball carriers did such a good job for Darce's try that we just kept doing the same thing over and over. Again, it was fine but I thought we lacked variety in our play. One thing I've loved about watching us play over the last couple of years is that you have to keep your eye on everyone in our back line when Sexton starts to attack the opposition because often it's impossible to know what he's going to do. I just didn't get much of a sense of that on Saturday. I was expecting our back three to be popping up everywhere and the centres to be crashing up a lot of ball but our backs seemed to be a bit of a sideshow. Maybe it was a combo of what I said above and the fact that Luke dropped a ball when he did pop up off Sexton's shoulder early on. Either way I thought we should have mixed things up more.

As well as that, I'd have got Ferg on for Isa very early in the second half. He clearly wasn't at the races and I reckon Ferg would have added an awful lot. I really think he'd have lifted our performance hugely.

I think my abiding memory of this HC campaign will be the missed lineouts at crucial times, needs to be sorted. Cronin has been great in the loose recently but his throwing has to improve. I thought it had been getting better but seems to have regressed again.

[crumlinbob]

Very impressed by Exeter. Its a pity certain French teams didnt go about their business in a similar fashion. The Chiefs proved they are well capable of playing at the highest level and are a great addition to the tournament. Hope they quqlify next year and get drawn against Munster!

[Donny B.]

As well as that, I'd have got Ferg on for Isa very early in the second half. He clearly wasn't at the races and I reckon Ferg would have added an awful lot. I really think he'd have lifted our performance hugely.

I think my abiding memory of this HC campaign will be the missed lineouts at crucial times, needs to be sorted. Cronin has been great in the loose recently but his throwing has to improve. I thought it had been getting better but seems to have regressed again.

The only reasoning for Ferg not coming on I can think of is his knee injury. But if he wasn't fit enough to come on he shouldn't have been on the bench. As I was at the game down the Exeter end for the second half, I didn't realise Jenno never came on. Very strange, especially the way Scaysbrook was causing trouble at the breakdown all game. Jenno could have put some manners on him.

Totally agree about the lineout being the main reason we're out. In virtually every game there was at least one key attacking lineout that we screwed up. It has to be fixed and Jonno needs to make it his main priority.

[desperado]

Thank you for allowing me to join in discussion on your forum over the last few months, during which time I hope I've been able to impart some local knowledge back to your travelling Supporters, on our City of Exeter, and our Club Exeter Chiefs.

To a man, women and child, all your travelling Supporters I met in Exeter were absolute ambasadors for the game of Rugby, and a great credit to your Club in the way they overcame severe travel disruptions to get to Exeter.

The match at Sandy Park was a wonderful occasion, enhanced by the presence of The Blue Army !

I and many Chiefs Supporters also thoroughly enjoyed our visit to Dublin, and your great Club.

I therefore find it very sad today to read through the "drivel " posted on this thread, from your " armchair Supporters " which has somehow left a nasty taste !

Again thank you to the travelling Blue army, and I hope you had an easier journey home, and hopefully our paths will cross again

Wild Tooth

WT. Really enjoyed the weekend (apart from the result of course). Damn cold; but Exeter fans were fantastic, great banter at the ground and around town. The opposite to some arrogance I've experienced before at some so called top English clubs. Both teams came to play rugby, playing to their team strengths and gave it their all. Hope to visit again.

[artaneboy]

I know I'm coming across as an arrogant p**ck but I dont care. We should have smashed them home and away.

Their 7 had a good game but he was allowed to. If Jeno had been on the pitch then i would suggest that their 7 would not have been as influencial.

You do know that we beat them both times? And the second was with a bonus point away from home? We'd a lot of injuries for the first game and had players coming back late from Ireland duty. The important thing was to win and we did that. Then we had a lot of guys just back from injury on Saturday and couldn't keep up the same intensity after the 4th try, understandable. Now I think we could have made changes and thought we were poor tactically but Exeter are a good side and very well organised so to do what we did was still impressive. I fully expected us to get 5 points but I didn't expect it to be easy and it wasn't.

Well exactly! But that's it; no need to be insulting: but equally no need to be over-sugaring the praise either.

Exeter played well; are a good team in AP terms and could potentially become a similar one in the HC. But to say that a team finishing 3rd on a table of four is not a very good team in terms of the competition is fair enough- I think. They were obviously a lot better than Scarlets- and more honest too!

They could push on to being a contender; but they need a few additions first. I actually think we won all of the one-to-one match ups as evident by the the tries scored. But we just lack accuracy in the scoring areas to pile on the tries. And of course ther was Poite.....

[Donny B.]

Was very impressed with their pack in both games and would certainly nick Mumm and Johnson off them if offered.

They did lack a bit of penetration out wide though in both games and they'll probably need to bring in a few top-class backs if they want to kick on and challenge for the top four and the knock-out stages in the HC.

However they've come a long way in a short time and are one of the best arguments against scrapping relegation in the Premiership. They've plans to expand the ground capacity to 20K which some of the fans viewed as over-ambitious but at the moment they're just running along nicely and are one of only a few English clubs that make a profit.

It was really nice to visit a real club opposed to come corporate, plastic nightmare like Saracens. I loved the volunteers from their supporter's club handing out home-made cakes and pasties in the Wig Wam bar beforehand. They were so proud of their club and of their team standing up to the European champions. Fair play to them, they're one of the good guys and I wish them well.

[Degz]

Was very impressed with their pack in both games and would certainly nick Mumm and Johnson off them if offered.

They did lack a bit of penetration out wide though in both games and they'll probably need to bring in a few top-class backs if they want to kick on and challenge for the top four and the knock-out stages in the HC.

However they've come a long way in a short time and are one of the best arguments against scrapping relegation in the Premiership. They've plans to expand the ground capacity to 20K which some of the fans viewed as over-ambitious but at the moment they're just running along nicely and are one of only a few English clubs that make a profit.

It was really nice to visit a real club opposed to come corporate, plastic nightmare like Saracens. I loved the volunteers from their supporter's club handing out home-made cakes and pasties in the Wig Wam bar beforehand. They were so proud of their club and of their team standing up to the European champions. Fair play to them, they're one of the good guys and I wish them well.

Will second all of that. We were never going to blow that side out of the water. I was worried enough about getting the bp.

Let's face it. Clermont won there handily, having been behind at half time. ASM also have on of the strongest benches in the professional game, whereas we were carrying an injury or two. A good win, a pity we couldn't ramp it up at 60 minutes.

Would be happy enough if we drew them as our English side again next year.