Exeter vs Gloucester - Sat 3pm

[Puja]

Exeter Chiefs: 15 Josh Hodge, 14 Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Len Ikitau, 11 Olly Woodburn, 10 Harvey Skinner, 9 Stephen Varney, 8 Greg Fisilau, 7 Ethan Roots, 6 Tom Hooper, 5 Rusi Tuima, 4 Dafydd Jenkins (c), 3 Josh Iosefa-Scott, 2 Joseph Dweba, 1 Scott Sio
Replacements: 16 Jack Yeandle, 17 Ethan Burger, 18 Bachuki Tchumbadze, 19 Andrea Zambonin, 20 Kane James, 21 Charlie Chapman, 22 Will Haydon-Wood, 23 Ben Hammersley

Gloucester: 15 Charlie Atkinson, 14 Ben Redshaw, 13 Will Joseph, 12 Max Llewellyn, 11 Jack Cotgreave, 10 Ross Byrne, 9 Tomos Williams (c), 8 Hugh Bokenham, 7 James Venter, 6 Josh Basham, 5 Matias Alemanno, 4 Freddie Thomas, 3 Nepo Laulala, 2 Seb Blake, 1 Ciaran Knight
Replacements: 16 Jack Innard, 17 Dian Bleuler, 18 Afo Fasogbon, 19 Cam Jordan, 20 Jack Mann, 21 Caolan Englefield, 22 George Barton, 23 Will Knight

Venue: Sandy Park
Date: Saturday 25 October
Kick-off: 15:00
Referee: Adam Leal
Assistant referees: Alex Thomas & Calum Howard
TMO: Luke Pearce
Broadcast: TNT Sports Extra, discovery+

[Epaminondas Pules]

Ben Redshaw back fit! And Will Knight on the bench!

[fivepointer]

Very good to see Redshaw starting and Knight on the bench.

Suspect Exeter will prove too strong and continue their promising start to the season.

[charlesdeboeuf]

Very good to see Redshaw starting and Knight on the bench.

Suspect Exeter will prove too strong and continue their promising start to the season.

Agreed on Redshaw and Knight, as well as the result prediction.

Also happy to see Cotgreave starting, who is still only 19 himself.

[Oakboy]

I know this board won't want to hear it but Slade is flying this season. Ikitau is a cracking centre partner for him. I still think the England 13 shirt is Slade's till he hands on to Freeman.

[FKAS]

I know this board won't want to hear it but Slade is flying this season. Ikitau is a cracking centre partner for him. I still think the England 13 shirt is Slade's till he hands on to Freeman.

He's playing very well. Even if he doesn't start then if England want a 6-2 bench split he's a very good option in the 23 shirt. I've nothing against him, his issue with England has generally been he's been played in an unbalanced centre partnership with Farrell or Dingwall. Like with Ikitau he needs that physical option in the midfield alongside him.

[Which Tyler]

Slade's issue has never been club form, has it?


For the 13 shirt, he's up against Lawrence, who's also going really well.
Or, he needs to hope for a repeat of the Lawrence, Slade midfield that hasn't worked, rather than Dingwall/Ojomoh at 12

[fivepointer]

Slade's issue has been a series of underwhelming performances for England irrespective of who is playing alongside.

Lawrence should be inked in to play 13 this autumn.

[Danno]

Slade's issue has been a series of underwhelming performances for England irrespective of who is playing alongside.

Lawrence should be inked in to play 13 this autumn.

This

[Puja]

I know this board won't want to hear it but Slade is flying this season. Ikitau is a cracking centre partner for him. I still think the England 13 shirt is Slade's till he hands on to Freeman.

I was thinking that today as well. I don't want us to try making Slade/Lawrence work for the nth time, but there's no denying that, on domestic form alone, they're probably the form centres.

Not sure about the last bit though - Lawrence is a 13, through and through, and any attempt to use him as a crash ball 12 ignores what he's actually good at. He should be in possession at 13 and, if we are to use Slade, he should be adapting to Lawrence, not vice versa.

Puja

[Danno]

I know this board won't want to hear it but Slade is flying this season. Ikitau is a cracking centre partner for him. I still think the England 13 shirt is Slade's till he hands on to Freeman.

I was thinking that today as well. I don't want us to try making Slade/Lawrence work for the nth time, but there's no denying that, on domestic form alone, they're probably the form centres.

Not sure about the last bit though - Lawrence is a 13, through and through, and any attempt to use him as a crash ball 12 ignores what he's actually good at. He should be in possession at 13 and, if we are to use Slade, he should be adapting to Lawrence, not vice versa.

Puja

We've been here before, so many times. Slade has never been bad at Chiefs, he's often very, very good, but he's almost always been somewhere between slightly and significantly disappointing when playing for England, no matter who his centre partner is (he's had Fazzlet, Burrell, Tuilagi and Marchant off the top of my head, probably others because Eddie).

We've got Dingwall and Lawrence, let's use them. Dingwall might not be the most eye catching player around but he gets a backline clicking.

[fivepointer]

Joseph's try was a beaut.

[Scrumhead]

I know this board won't want to hear it but Slade is flying this season. Ikitau is a cracking centre partner for him. I still think the England 13 shirt is Slade's till he hands on to Freeman.

I was thinking that today as well. I don't want us to try making Slade/Lawrence work for the nth time, but there's no denying that, on domestic form alone, they're probably the form centres.

Not sure about the last bit though - Lawrence is a 13, through and through, and any attempt to use him as a crash ball 12 ignores what he's actually good at. He should be in possession at 13 and, if we are to use Slade, he should be adapting to Lawrence, not vice versa.

Puja

We've been here before, so many times. Slade has never been bad at Chiefs, he's often very, very good, but he's almost always been somewhere between slightly and significantly disappointing when playing for England, no matter who his centre partner is (he's had Fazzlet, Burrell, Tuilagi and Marchant off the top of my head, probably others because Eddie).

We've got Dingwall and Lawrence, let's use them. Dingwall might not be the most eye catching player around but he gets a backline clicking.

Exactly this.

As I said on another forum, Slade might be in form, but he’s almost always flattered to deceive at test level and I’d question whether Blackett would want to have a 32yr old playing a key role in the attack he’s building for 2027. Slade is better than Dingwall, Ojomoh and Atkinson today but not by much and he’s had so many chances without really delivering. I’d expect all three to be better than him in 2yrs time.

[Captainhaircut]

I was thinking that today as well. I don't want us to try making Slade/Lawrence work for the nth time, but there's no denying that, on domestic form alone, they're probably the form centres.

Not sure about the last bit though - Lawrence is a 13, through and through, and any attempt to use him as a crash ball 12 ignores what he's actually good at. He should be in possession at 13 and, if we are to use Slade, he should be adapting to Lawrence, not vice versa.

Puja

We've been here before, so many times. Slade has never been bad at Chiefs, he's often very, very good, but he's almost always been somewhere between slightly and significantly disappointing when playing for England, no matter who his centre partner is (he's had Fazzlet, Burrell, Tuilagi and Marchant off the top of my head, probably others because Eddie).

We've got Dingwall and Lawrence, let's use them. Dingwall might not be the most eye catching player around but he gets a backline clicking.

Exactly this.

As I said on another forum, Slade might be in form, but he’s almost always flattered to deceive at test level and I’d question whether Blackett would want to have a 32yr old playing a key role in the attack he’s building for 2027. Slade is better than Dingwall, Ojomoh and Atkinson today but not by much and he’s had so many chances without really delivering. I’d expect all three to be better than him in 2yrs time.

Is he better than those 3 as a 12? I’m not sure I’ve ever seen him play particularly well at 12. His best performances for England and Exeter have always been at 13 and he’s up against Lawrence and Freeman there.

[Puja]

I was thinking that today as well. I don't want us to try making Slade/Lawrence work for the nth time, but there's no denying that, on domestic form alone, they're probably the form centres.

Not sure about the last bit though - Lawrence is a 13, through and through, and any attempt to use him as a crash ball 12 ignores what he's actually good at. He should be in possession at 13 and, if we are to use Slade, he should be adapting to Lawrence, not vice versa.

Puja

We've been here before, so many times. Slade has never been bad at Chiefs, he's often very, very good, but he's almost always been somewhere between slightly and significantly disappointing when playing for England, no matter who his centre partner is (he's had Fazzlet, Burrell, Tuilagi and Marchant off the top of my head, probably others because Eddie).

We've got Dingwall and Lawrence, let's use them. Dingwall might not be the most eye catching player around but he gets a backline clicking.

Exactly this.

As I said on another forum, Slade might be in form, but he’s almost always flattered to deceive at test level and I’d question whether Blackett would want to have a 32yr old playing a key role in the attack he’s building for 2027. Slade is better than Dingwall, Ojomoh and Atkinson today but not by much and he’s had so many chances without really delivering. I’d expect all three to be better than him in 2yrs time.

I'm very much on your side with this, but there's no denying that he is in some of the best form of his career and I won't blame Blackett if he decides to give it one more go to see if he can finally be the one to get it to work. Kinda resigned to it, tbh.

Joseph's try was a beaut.

Definitely worth a watch if anyone hasn't seen it yet:




Cotgreave's right foot step that makes Feyi-Waboso look like all the pricks of the day is absolutely sublime (although it's also worth watching IFW get his own back at 1.58 when he absolutely monsters Cotgreave and stops him scoring a certain try when he had no right to).

Puja