Pellow proud of his Chiefs
By Mark Stevens
27/1/19
Ricky Pellow insisted he could ask for no more from his Exeter Chiefs side as they edged ever closer to booking themselves a place in the semi-finals of this season’s Premiership Rugby Cup.
Exeter’s 12-10 victory over local rivals Bristol Bears at Ashton Gate in Round Four means the Chiefs have accumulated 15 points from their four qualification fixtures. However, they must now wait a week to see if that will be sufficient for them to advance in the defence of their Cup crown.
Rivals Newcastle Falcons will have to win by at least nine clear points, and score four tries, away to Sale Sharks next Sunday to stop the Devonians finishing top of Pool One.
Even then, the Chiefs could qualify as best runners-up if Worcester Warriors fail to get a win at home to out-of-form Wasps.
The most likely outcome, however, is that Pellow’s side will top their group and face a last-four trip to number two seeds Northampton Saints in a fortnight’s time.
Post-match, the Cornishman admitted he was ‘unbelievably proud of his players’ as they recorded a third win of the season against a star-studded Bears outfit thanks to a first half try from skipper Greg Holmes and a penalty try just ten minutes from time.
“We talked all week about going out and being brave, and in those conditions it took a lot of real emotional effort and buy-in from that group to rip the game away from Bristol,” said Pellow.
“It was going to be a set-piece orientated game when the bad weather came in, and when we got that penalty try under the posts, I thought that was a key moment in the game.”
All afternoon the Chiefs bossed the set-piece exchanges, particularly at scrum time, and it was Aussie international Holmes who made the bold call late in the game to try and ram home their advantage just five metres from the Bears line.
As one, the Exeter eight came together in a destructive show of force, splintering their rivals apart and forcing referee Luke Pearce to go under the sticks for what proved the match-winning score.
Holmes was rightly named the game’s man-of-the-match, but there were notable displays from many within the Chiefs line-up, which was completely changed from that which took to the field against Munster in the Heineken Champions Cup the week previous.
The likes of Alex Cuthbert, Dave Ewers and Olly Woodburn all played 80 minutes after returning from injury, whilst a number of the club’s up-and-coming youngsters again grasped the opportunity to shine on the big stage, much to the delight of skills coach Pellow.
He added: “For those young half-backs, Harvey Skinner and Sam Maunder, to start and have to manage the game in those conditions, they will learn a helluva lot from it, and then Joe Snow coming on having to close out the game, from a half-backs perspective, you can’t get any better matches.
“Greg Holmes led from the front and was outstanding, and Rich Capstick, who is only 18 years of age, was in and around the mix of those big Bristol forwards, and I thought he was outstanding as well.
“Overall, I am really pleased with the win and the lessons we will take from the game.
“We will have to wait until next Sunday now to see if we qualify, but whatever happens, I am really proud of what the guys have done over this Premiership Cup block.
“After our draw up at Newcastle, we had to show some real character to get the next two wins against Harlequins and Bath, to put us in this position, and if we don’t get out of the group, at least we can say we haven’t lost a game, which is really pleasing.”
Pellow was also happy with what the bench added to the display, saying: “I thought Billy Keast made a really good impact when he came on, the scrum was really solid throughout and Moray Low, Greg Holmes and Jack Innard set the foundations in the first half.
“What we did do is not give them any route back into the game around scrum time, we got some really key penalties earlier on in the match, which didn’t necessarily lead to points, but led to painting that picture for the referee for later on, but Billy came on and did well not only around scrum time but the way he carried, and our bench as a whole added something to the game when they came on.”
And whilst the victory was the key highlight of the day, the sight of a number of first team stars getting through the match with much-needed game time under their belts will have been music to the Chiefs coaching staff moving forward.
“That is what is really good about this competition, and the way we have been able to spread the game minutes throughout the squad, and to put a few of those young players in to give them that experience and game minutes as well.
“Olly came back from a long-term injury and played really well in terms of what he needed to do; Alex offered himself in a lot of different positions. We ask a lot of our wingers about getting themselves involved in the game.
“Tom Hendrickson added real leadership and steal around our defence. Things weren’t perfect from an attacking perspective or a defence perspective throughout the game, but what we did do was we kept ourselves together, and we came though some really crucial moments where we could have buckled but we showed some real mental strength there.”
