Champions Cup: Five takeaways from Exeter Chiefs v Stormers
Following Exeter Chiefs’ 42-17 Champions Cup triumph over the Stormers at Sandy Park, Planet Rugby picks out five takeaways from the action.
The Top Line
Exeter Chiefs put in arguably their biggest performance of the season to end the South African interest in this season’s Champions Cup as they clinically disposed of The Stormers at Sandy Park 42-17 in a superb display of trademark phase rugby.
Tries from Tom Wyatt, Jack Nowell and Ollie Woodburn before halftime was probably beyond their wildest dreams, and they headed off at the interval with an unassailable 21-0 lead after an impressive display of retention-focused tactics, characterised by brilliant displays from England discards Sam Simmonds and Henry Slade.
Stormers produced a far better second half, with tries from Damien Willemse, Suleiman Hartzenberg, who ran hard all afternoon, and a rather comical affair at the end when Marvin Orie sneaked over, leading to a rather amusing battle of wisdom between referee Mathieu Raynal and his TMO Thomas Charabas, as they appeared to have differing views on the validity of the Orie touchdown.
Nevertheless, the Chiefs continue their journey- next stop is one of La Rochelle or arch-rivals Saracens in the semi-finals, maintaining an important English interest in the penultimate round.
Width and Possession
Exeter’s game plan is hardly rocket science; great retention, using the pace and power of Simmonds, Jannes Kirsten and Dan Frost down the middle of the pitch to allow pacy backs free rein to exploit the wide outside.
For the first 20 minutes, Stormers didn’t help themselves by adopting a 12-1-2 push defence off Dan du Plessis at 12. They failed to get the midfield purchase they needed to slow Exeter, and as a result, both Wyatt and Nowell profited from defensive holes, one on the wide, the other around the ruck as Stormers struggled to resource their structure. The Stormers actually changed their defensive system part way through the first half, playing a shallower but wider drift based 13-2 to prevent exposure on the flanks.
Outside the big fellas, Henry Slade had one of those days where everything he touched turned to gold- whether it was a rush out of the line to intercept or tackle, or a booming left-footed kick, everything the big centre did came off, and he dovetailed brilliantly with Joe Simmonds as a second pivot option all afternoon.
A word too for Chiefs’ young scrum-half Will Becconsall; playing in easily the biggest match of his career, he was fast, direct and efficient in keeping the Chiefs rumbling forward.
Fatigue Again
Whilst the Sharks started hot in Toulouse but noticeably fell off at the 60-minute mark, the reverse was true of the Stormers. They looked to still have the journey in their legs and minds for the first 50 minutes, lacking energy, swiftness of thinking and sharpness of execution. Simmonds was brutal in his picking off of Frans Malherbe, a more nimble defender than his girth may lead you to believe, and Orie, as he simply beat both men guarding the 12 channel to fly over for a trademark Simmonds score and the slowness of the two Springboks to react was symptomatic of their performance.
It’s fair to say that the South African sides have really not had an equitable deal in the knockout stages of the EPCR Champions Cup, and being forced to play on the road from Quarter Final stages onwards smacks of commercial compromise. EPCR must treat all sides equitably- there’s little point in saying ‘yes we want you and your TV revenue’ only to give them a deal that’s totally one-sided in the latter stages.
Next season promises to be different but rugby cannot expect world-class athletes to trek 24 hours on economy flights just to please the European-watching public, and the South African clubs need far greater respect paying to them in this regard.
Chiefs Youngsters
We’ve mentioned Becconsall, but elsewhere, a lot of the Chiefs’ success was driven by some young and relatively inexperienced players, whether they be signings or Academy men.
In only his fifth start, Marcus Street held on with his fingertips all afternoon as Springbok legend Steven Kitshoff gave the young tighthead the ride of his life. Wyatt was as solid as a rock all afternoon at fullback- a man who was playing at Level Eight two years ago, his transformation into a professional player is now as assured as he was under the high ball for 80 minutes. Sean O’Brien added defensive solidity to midfield, and Planet Rugby’s guest this week, hooker Dan Frost had yet another brilliant 55 minutes, again forcing his England claims in a problem position as he tackled his heart out and ran carry after carry into the big South African midfield.
With Star of the Match Woodburn and Nowell hungry on the outside and profiting from the work of their youngsters in the pack and midfield, Exeter DoR Rob Baxter can take great pride that not only are Chiefs into the semi-finals but he’s done it the Sandy Park way- with shrewd unsung signings and huge reliance on an outstanding academy.
The Bottom Line
Exeter know that their fixture on will either be at Matmut ATLANTIQUE in Bordeaux versus La Rochelle or Ashton Gate against Saracens. They’ll be facing either their most deadly of rivals and a team where there’s absolutely no love lost between either players or fans or the current European Champions, who appear to be getting their mojo back, despite an inconsistent season.
What Exeter have done is peaked at exactly the right time, they’re on a form upslope and appear to be getting better week after week. The Montpellier game will have given them the confidence to compete for 80 (or 100, in this case) minutes, whereas this match versus the Stormers will have underlined their ability to deal with powerful, test-quality forwards, especially at scrum time.
Many will still see them as the outsiders to progress, but there’s something in the Exeter DNA that rather likes that underdog tag and relishes being written off.
They have nothing to fear playing either side – provided they stick to their formula of possession and calm phase play, they have the wherewithal to beat any side, exactly as they have shown in consecutive weekends against two star-studded sides in both Montpellier and the Stormers.
