Season Review - February
By Mark Stevens
1/6/20
With things looking healthy in both the Gallagher Premiership and Heineken Champions Cup, the Exeter Chiefs entered into February looking to advance further in the third of their seasonal objective.
Having used the Premiership Rugby Cup as a worthy development tool earlier in the season, helping get much-needed game time into the majority of the first team squad, they arrived at the semi-final stage knowing they were once again within touching distance of another final outing.
In recent years the competition has served the Devonians well, including victories in 2014 and 2017, and now Ricky Pellow’s side were looking to overcome Premiership rivals Harlequins for a place in the final against either Sale Sharks or defending champions Saracens.
No doubt with an eye on future fixtures, the Chiefs resisted the opportunity to go full-bore against the visiting Londoners. Sure, there were a number of household names in the Exeter line-up, but they were supplemented by a number of players keen to make the most of a first-team chance.
Harlequins, on the other hand, were at full-strength – parading a wealth of international names in their line-up – and it was that greater gulf in class that would prove pivotal in the end, the visitors running out 49-22 victors on the day.
Although disappointed with the end outcome, there had been positives for the Chiefs, who saw Sam Skinner make a try-scoring return on his first start since picking up a hamstring injury on international duty with Scotland prior to the Rugby World Cup. The young lock grabbed one of Exeter’s four tries on the day, the others going to James Short and Tom Price (2).
Away from Sandy Park, the club’s international contingent did not get off to the best of starts with Luke Cowan-Dickie and Henry Slade part of England’s side that lost their Guinness Six Nations opener over in France, whilst Stuart Hogg had a disappointing introduction to life as Scotland captain, losing away to Ireland and dropping the ball over the try-line when he looked set to score.
Hogg was given plenty of stick in the aftermath of his Dublin display, but a week later – back in the colours of the Chiefs – he reminded the rugby public of his undoubted qualities, bagging his first-ever Premiership try as the Chiefs won 26-15 at Gloucester.
The Scotsman’s individual score was the highlight of an impressive display from Rob Baxter’s men, whose other points came courtesy of a try from Jacques Vermeulen and the metronomic boot of Gareth Steenson.
It was little wonder that Baxter was quick to praise his players following the final whistle. He said: “We knew coming here was going to be a really tough challenge, especially against a team who will be fighting for the top four, and who have genuine ambitions to win the Premiership. Therefore, to come here – in what were difficult conditions; in front of a big crowd; on a Friday night – and then produce what I thought was an exceptional showing of hard work and toughness from the guys, that was very satisfying indeed.”
The victory also ensured there was no hangover following the defeats to Sale in the Premiership and Harlequins in the Cup and meant the Chiefs could continue to attack the season in much the same vein as they had done in the previous months.
Just days after their success at Kingsholm, Baxter announced another new signing for the 2020/21 season in the shape of Scottish international Sam Hidalgo-Clyne. The talented scrum-half had been recruited to help fill the void, which will be left at the end of the season by departing Aussie Nic White, whose three years at Sandy Park have been hugely impressive.
With things progressing nicely on the men’s front, there was also a first-ever win for the newly-formed Exeter Chiefs women’s side, who under the watchful eye of coaches Susie Appleby and Amy Garnett marked their maiden fixture with an impressive 27-10 win away to Newcastle Falcons.
Ebony Jeffries led the way for the visitors, scoring a hat-trick of tries, whilst there were further touchdowns for Garnett MacKinder and Charlie Budge at Kingston Park.
Back in the Six Nations, Hogg maintained his rich vein of form as he scored in Scotland’s win away to Italy, whilst club-mate Cowan-Dickie was also on the scoresheet as England triumphed against Ireland at Twickenham.
Even without the likes of Hogg, Cowan-Dickie and Slade, the Chiefs were in fine fettle in their return to Premiership action at Sandy Park. Up against what appeared a powerful Northampton Saints line-up, Baxter’s men produced arguably one of their best displays of the season so far.
In a dominant display from start to finish, they routed the visiting Saints 57-7 with tries from Jonny Hill, Elvis Taione, Jannes Kirsten, Tom Hendrickson (2), Ben Moon, Tom O’Flaherty and Sam Simmonds.
It was vintage stuff from the ‘Men in Black’ against a side that knew they would be facing at least twice more this season, including the much-anticipated Champions Cup quarter-final.
Head coach Ali Hepher, himself a former Saints player, acknowledged post-matchthe challenge is there for his side every time they take to the field – in whatever competition – and that moving forward the Chiefs will need to keep focused on delivering performances.
“The mentality of it all means it’s tough to do it every week, but it was good to see the guys in a good headspace, particularly in the last 50 minutes of the game. We were in a mood to work and we worked hard. It didn’t feel like that scoreline really, it felt a lot more competitive than that, but the guys kept going and going.”
As good a victory it was, Hepher admitted no one at the club would be getting carried away with events and that the focus would need to switch quickly to their final fixture of February, an away day to Harlequins.
“It’s a great result for us and the lads have done fantastically well today,” added Hepher. “However, next week is another massive game. They [Quins] are going to be hungry after yesterday and we’ve got to make sure that on a short turnaround we’re in the right frame of mind – and make sure that we’ve got the appetite to go after them with four or five points on offer.
“That’s the secret for us going forward, so we’ve got to make sure that we stay hungry and that we don’t take our foot off the pedal.”
Arriving in the capital, full of confidence, the Chiefs knew the challenge of Harlequins would be tough.
And so it proved….. as the Chiefs were made to pay the penalty, quite literally, with an injury time penalty try ensuring Harlequins of a dramatic 34-30 victory at The Stoop.
With the clock deep into the red - and the hosts pushing hard in attack - the patience of referee Christophe Ridley finally caved in as the official adjudged the Chiefs had transgressed one too many times.
As Harlequins and their fans erupted into a wall of noise, the Chiefs were left to reflect on what might have been, particularly given their stubborn resistance during a pulsating final quarter.
Baxter and his fellow coaches were less than impressed with the final decision, but equally they were quick to look into other reasons as to why their side were unable to find the necessary push that would have got them over the finishing line.
Skipper Joe Simmonds once again underlined his blossoming talent, finishing the game with 25 of his side’s 30 points, while Phil Dollman claimed the other score, dotting down Exeter’s opener inside the opening throws of the contest.
In reply, Simmonds’ opposite number, Marcus Smith, was equally impressive. He claimed one of Harlequins’ four tries, the others went to Paul Lasike and Tevita Cavubati, as well as punting over a further 12 points.
Afterwards, Baxter refused to get too embroiled into the whole decision-making process made by Ridley late on.
“The penalty try at the end is obviously going to be the big talking point, but the reality is there are a number of other things that happened in that scenario as well,” he said. “Therefore, there’s no real point in us sitting here now and making too big a deal about it.
“I just asked the ref as he walked off what his rational was behind giving it, because to me it didn’t look like a try was in the process of being scored, nor was it likely to be scored from what had happened there. His feeling, though, was that there were too many penalties, which I kind of get, yet I’m not sure a try was going to be scored.
“Having said that, if he hadn’t of awarded a penalty try, there were other moments where Harlequins could easily have gone back and said ‘what about this, what about that’, so I’m not over concerned about that.
“What I am concerned about is more the case of ‘how did we get into that position?’
“People do need to remember that we had the scrum put-in first, where we were five metres out, and we got pushed straight off the ball. That is what started that whole passage of play right at the end.”