Exeter Chiefs 18 Leicester Tigers 11: A bad day at the office

There is often an awkward moment in film where an up-and-coming actor has the opportunity to work alongside one of their idols. Robert de Niro, who often finds himself on the receiving end of such moments, was recently told by rising co-star Bradley Cooper that, "[He] inspired me to be an actor... I think I have been in a state of daze around him ever since." Given that Exeter Chiefs have now achieved the double over Leicester this season, it feels patronising to suggest that Rob Baxter’s team are the Bradley Cooper to Leicester's Robert de Niro, especially as they now sit just one point behind the Tigers, but Saturday’s game had the feel of a household name being outshone by the new kid on the block…

(Source: leicestertigers.com)

The strategy both on and off the field at Sandy Park is heavily influenced by the success of Leicester over the years and the two clubs bear some strong comparisons: a philosophy of endeavour above flair; the team above the individual; focus on set-pieces; good infrastructure; modern facilities. This was embodied at Sandy Park on Saturday evening as the two sides mutually agreed game plans to build patterns of play through forwards in the loose before occasionally throwing the ball wide in hope, rather than expectation, of a mismatch. The possession figure was split perfectly down the middle and huge chunks of the game were played in between the 22s. In short, the two were so similar in approach it took a collapse from Leicester to decide the result.

For Leicester it felt as calamitous as the surrendering of a comfortable win against London Irish back in round 8. In that pivotal moment before half-time a combination of poor kicking from Geordan Murphy, extravagance from Anthony Allen in his own 22 and slow reactions from Sam Harrison allowed Exeter to gain the upper hand. In the second-half, Allen again knocked on, Toby Flood was charged down and the game-winning score was Exeter’s. The pressure from the opposition had to be there to take advantage of those mistakes, but you would be hard pushed to argue that they were not unforced.

It should be noted that, whilst the performance was, in the words of Richard Cockerill, “Unacceptable,” the losing margin was only 8 points and some Exeter fans are calling this the best performance they’ve seen at Sandy Park in recent years, eclipsing the remarkable victory of Perpignan a few weeks ago. They did nothing fancy because that’s not their game – they made no clean breaks, only offloaded twice all game and the outstanding Ignacio Meires kicked over 50% of his possession away – but they did not relent in pressuring Leicester in all aspects of the game. Be it scrums, lineouts or the breakdown, nothing was won easily. Theirs is a suffocating style that waits patiently for the opposition to make a mistake and then counters.

There are, of course, no Exeter players in the current England EPS and their team ethos means no one individual immediately stands out. But from within that group, a few players still stood slightly above the rest. The occasionally erratic Saxons squad member Tom Johnson made a big impact with 10 carries and his cross-hairs set firmly on Toby Flood all game. The big surprise was Brett Sturgess’ consistent dominance over Julian White. The part-time farmer’s value is almost exclusively in his world-class scrummaging nowadays but Sturgess showed him why he has been receiving rave reviews from Exeter fans all season. In Alex Corbisiero and Joe Marler, England are not exactly blessed in strong scrummagers on the loose-head side and if Sturgess continues this form he and Matt Mullan will surely be on Stuart Lancaster’s radar. On the other side of the scrum for Leicester, Marcos Ayerza kept getting turned inwards by Hoani Tui and with no Boris Stankovich on the bench there was not a realistic alternative for Richard Cockerill. Unfortunately for Leicester, a scrum under pressure exposed one of the few weaknesses in Thomas Waldrom’s game, his control of the ball from the base.

A few weeks ago Toby Flood didn’t realise he needed an England audition but this fixture turned out to be one for him and, alas, he didn’t pass it. In a tight game his kicking accuracy of 33% was worse than it’s been all season in the Aviva Premiership and the charge down for Baxter’s try just epitomised a bad day at the office. Most teams would struggle to win with a percentage that low and the worrying fact for Leicester is that it was the 6^th time this season their kicking has gone below 50% and the 3^rd time personally for Flood. The fly-half has, however, won Leicester far more games than he’s lost recently and is still very much in credit for the season. Having only changed their fly-half twice all season in the Premiership it was to be expected that George Ford was not called on as a replacement.

It was a familiar story in the backs. Despite the return of the enigmatic Manu Tuilagi, Leicester turned stagnant as the game wore on in the face of a spirited defence. The combination of stationary forwards in grey and quick line speed in black was not kind on Leicester. When they did get the ball wide they only served to move the ball laterally and there were no running lines that would have kept Exeter guessing. The fact that Leicester are top points scorers in the Premiership just doesn’t match up with the creativity in their back line. The unpredictability of Manu with the ball in hand became a painfully predictable go-to option.

Though this was potentially Exeter's best performance of the season there is still no reason why Leicester could not have won this game and that they didn't was in part down to their own mistakes.

Next up is another difficult away tie at the home of the champions. Though Saracens are much more affected by international call-ups this season, they were still able to field a formidable front-row last weekend to dominate Wasps of John Smit, Jamie George and Carlos Nieto, with Rhys Gill and Schalk Brits in reserve. If Julian White and Marcos Ayera are not able to raise their game then there will be little chance for Leicester with Alex Goode's precise kicking.

(Source: Daily Mail)

Leicester's best chance of a result will surely be to move the ball away from the hosts' imposing pack, which offers no less with the inclusion of squad players like the impressive Jackson Wray. Saracens' kicking game from hand is restricted with Nils Mordt playing at 10 and this may be an opportunity for George Ford to control the game, should he get the nod.

There was a telling moment in the Exeter game with around 10 minutes remaining. The ball was dead and both packs were waiting whilst a player received treatment. The Exeter pack stood huddled together, sharing instructions and talking the entire time; the Leicester pack stood apart, keeping their thoughts to themselves. Leicester don't have a good recent track record against Saracens and they are going to have to find some self-belief this week at Oval Park to come away from Vicarage Road with a result.