Chiefs Vs Tigers - Sat 3pm

[FKAS]

The five members of the Leicester Tigers squad who toured with the England men’s team in the summer – Ollie Chessum, Joe Heyes, Jack van Poortvliet, Guy Porter and Freddie Steward – are unavailable for selection in line with the mandatory rest period for players.

STARTING XV:
15 Chris Ashton [12]
14 Harry Potter [41]
13 Matt Scott [47]
12 Jimmy Gopperth *
11 Hosea Saumaki [12]
10 Freddie Burns [103]
9 Ben Youngs (vc) [282]
1 James Cronin *
2 Charlie Clare [52]
3 Dan Cole (vc) [290]
4 Harry Wells [156]
5 Eli Snyman [20]
6 George Martin [39]
7 Tommy Reffell [78]
8 Hanro Liebenberg (c) [59]

REPLACEMENTS:
16 Joe Taufete’e *
17 Francois van Wyk [17]
18 Will Hurd [8]
19 Cameron Henderson [20]
20 Olly Cracknell *
21 Richard Wigglesworth [37]
22 Phil Cokanasiga *
23 Kini Murimurivalu [36]

So presumably Hegarty and Watson have failed their fitness tests following knocks in the Falcons game.

[FKAS]

Chiefs going for a really BIG pack and with a 10 at fullback instead of Cordero or Nowell a kicking orientated game.

[Puja]

I said it in the pre-season thread, but Tshiunza at 7 is a ridiculous statement. They have got a 7 playing at 8, so there is more balance to the backrow than playing two lock/sixes at flank would suggest, but that is still bosh first, bosh later, ask questions about where Reffell went with all our ball after the game.

It's as good a side as can be expected from Leicester with all the absences. Interested to see how Gopperth goes - Borthwick mentioned him as the fittest man out of the Tigers' pre-season, so it'll be interesting to see how he goes.

Bring on the new season - I can't wait!

Puja

[fivepointer]

I said it in the pre-season thread, but Tshiunza at 7 is a ridiculous statement. They have got a 7 playing at 8, so there is more balance to the backrow than playing two lock/sixes at flank would suggest, but that is still bosh first, bosh later, ask questions about where Reffell went with all our ball after the game.

It's as good a side as can be expected from Leicester with all the absences. Interested to see how Gopperth goes - Borthwick mentioned him as the fittest man out of the Tigers' pre-season, so it'll be interesting to see how he goes.

Bring on the new season - I can't wait!

Puja

Yep, Tshiunza looked horribly out of place in the back row against Ulster. Capstick really is a 6 so there isnt that much balance in the back row. Ewers on the bench hardly provides a point of difference.
Can Exe really not find a better centre than Whitten?
Both sides missing a number of players so hard to pick a likely winner.

[FKAS]

I said it in the pre-season thread, but Tshiunza at 7 is a ridiculous statement. They have got a 7 playing at 8, so there is more balance to the backrow than playing two lock/sixes at flank would suggest, but that is still bosh first, bosh later, ask questions about where Reffell went with all our ball after the game.

It's as good a side as can be expected from Leicester with all the absences. Interested to see how Gopperth goes - Borthwick mentioned him as the fittest man out of the Tigers' pre-season, so it'll be interesting to see how he goes.

Bring on the new season - I can't wait!

Puja

Capstick at 6ft5 and 17.5 stone could easily be another hybrid lock/backrow though. The battle up front is going to be brutal, it's not like Tigers have selected a nimble pack.

Both sides have some fairly weighty impact on the bench as well so this one could seesaw. Really looking forward to it.

[Puja]

Ah, for some reason I had it in my head that Capstick was a pure 7 (possibly he's a pure 7 as Exeter define it, but not a groundhog like I thought). In which case, that's an even more egregiously unbalanced back row, especially given that Leicester have Cracknell to come on as well who is a more than capable jackaller at 7. Could be the point of difference.

Met office says it should be quite nice weather in Exeter tomorrow, so it won't just be a slog in the mud.

Puja

[Mikey Brown]

Ah, for some reason I had it in my head that Capstick was a pure 7 (possibly he's a pure 7 as Exeter define it, but not a groundhog like I thought).

It's hard to keep track. Seeing him at 8 for Exe makes sense because he's known as an openside, but that's only based on playing openside for Exe which actually means you're a lock.

That is one of the least scary Exeter sides I can remember seeing for a while.

[FKAS]

Yeah it doesn't invoke the previous dread of the ultra physical Chiefs sides of seasons past. Second row looks good but as a Tigers fan I'd hope that despite the weight of the Chiefs pack we can do a number on their front row at scrum time, Chiefs struggled badly at the breakdown Vs Ulster so with Reffell back I'm hoping he can cause chaos and stop that juggernaut rolling in attack and Whitten at 13 looked lead footed Vs Ulster he really struggled to keep up and Scott or Cokanasiga off the bench can hopefully target him.

[Oakboy]

I can't make up my mind on Exeter. Is this the start of a decline back to regular mid-table mediocrity? Or, is it just a dose of realism on the financial side?

Of course, they could end up being ahead of the game again if their local talent coming through means comfort on the wages front perhaps.

[Stom]

I just feel like without the absolute insanity that Simmons brings to their pack, it's all a bit meh. Take him out, like now, and it all looks a bit tongs but no hammer.

[twitchy]

I'm interested to see the new guys but it definitely feels like a more mid table team, which is fine. Exe needs to rebuild.

[FKAS]

Kata looks like a good signing at 12. I think he could really work well in the Chiefs team. Another big ball carrying backrow would have been my expectation from their signings this summer but it doesn't seem like it. That second row looks handy and they've got some powerful forwards in general but without Simmonds I think Stom is right, the pack looks a little one paced.

Chiefs have managed to grind teams down previously with wave after wave of heavy weight forwards though so maybe they think they can survive without.

[Mr Mwenda]

Bit early for a Christmas kit innit, Leicester?

[FKAS]

Yeah the Tigers away kit is a bit grim.

Townsend and Kata do a brilliant job of milking the penalty there. Absolutely textbook. Wells needs to be smarter. Joe Simmonds with a nice break from the Tigers box kick but Chiefs then went backwards in phase play.

[FKAS]

That's three Tigers players tackled off the ball so far.

[FKAS]

Chiefs defensive lineout working quite well, their 7 is having a good game. Offensively they've twice gone for the over the top to Kata charging up from 12. Neither throw has been very sympathetic and the second of which is a hospital ball which leads to Kata getting turned over by Reffell. Odd call with a pack as big as Chiefs

[FKAS]

Gopperth charged down after taking an age, Burns then knocks it dead from the kick through. Two really poor errors and it's a yellow card and penalty try

[Puja]

This may be the dullest match I've ever seen. Leicester are just utterly refusing to play and, before that charge down, were doing it well enough to prevent Exeter from playing as well. We thoroughly deserve to be punished for an utter lack of ambition.

Puja

[Puja]

Gopperth charged down after taking an age, Burns then knocks it dead from the kick through. Two really poor errors and it's a yellow card and penalty try

In fairness to Gopperth, I think that was literally the first time he'd received the ball, as Burns hadn't passed it in the first 20 minutes.

Puja

[FKAS]

Woodburn has just taken Ashton out in the air. Officials doing their best not to give the decision. Ridley certainly going with the home crowd on the 50/50s so far.

Tigers winning the tactical battle but when we have the ball we're going for over complicated plays looking for quick tries and it's just giving Chiefs the ball back.

Wish there was option just to have the ref mic and to do away with Monye and Dayglo as they are talking absolute shite so far. It's like two drunks down the local pub commentating on the game.

[Mr Mwenda]

This may be the dullest match I've ever seen. Leicester are just utterly refusing to play and, before that charge down, were doing it well enough to prevent Exeter from playing as well. We thoroughly deserve to be punished for an utter lack of ambition.

Puja

This, really struggling to pay attention...

[FKAS]

Yeah it's not a great game at all. Officials are equally awful. The assistant just giving an offside that looked very harsh and then indicates it's 20m in front of the last breakdown.

[FKAS]

Where's the chirpy bloody TMO now? Ben Youngs taps and goes and gets pulled back from a Chiefs player metres from the line. Somehow the ref missed it. Incompetence all round.

[Puja]

Ridley having a shocker from Leicester's perspective. Youngs gets impeded from a tap penalty and then, a couple of phases later, is stopped from passing to an overlap by an Exeter player on the wrong side - gives us nothing at all.

At least we are playing with some ambition now. Much better.

Exeter fans singing the Tomahawk Chop, showing that while you can take the racism out of the rugby club... actually it appears you can't take the racism out of the rugby club.

Puja

[FKAS]

The Tomahawk Chop being sung shows you can try to do the right thing but drinking brings out the idiots and they are harder to get rid of.