Exeter Chiefs vs Leicester Tigers

EXETER CHIEFS TEAM TO FACE LEICESTER TIGERS

15 Phil Dollman
14 Gonzalo Camacho
13 Nic Sestaret
12 Jason Shoemark
11 Matt Jess
10 Ignacio Mieres
9 Haydn Thomas
1 Brett Sturgess
2 Neil Clark
3 Hoani Tui
4 Tom Hayes (capt)
5 Aly Muldowney
6 Tom Johnson
7 James Scaysbrook
8 Richard Baxter

16 Chris Whitehead
17 Ben Moon
18 Craig Mitchell
19 James Phillips
20 Ben White
21 Kevin Barrett
22 Gareth Steenson
23 Bryan Rennie

Without Naqer still out injured (set for a March comeback by all accounts) and Arscott having taken a knock, reckon this is about as strong a line-up as we could've hoped for. Presumably Jamie Phillips provides second row cover on the bench, and good to have Craig Mitchell released back from Wales

Tigers team:

15 Geordan Murphy (c)
14 Horacio Agulla
13 Manu Tuilagi
12 Anthony Allen
11 Alesana Tuilagi
10 Toby Flood
9 Sam Harrison
1 Marcos Ayerza
2 George Chuter
3 Julian White
4 Ed Slater
5 George Skivington
6 Steve Mafi
7 Julian Salvi
8 Thomas Waldrom

Replacements
16 Rob Hawkins
17 Boris Stankovich
18 Logoviii Mulipola
19 Graham Kitchener
20 Ben Woods
21 James Grindal
22 George Ford
23 Matt Smith

Manu Tuilagi and Flood both back from injury

And Ford on the bench instead of Staunton. Excellent. Hopefully Manu is completely recovered.

Should be a good game

Hoping that Manu and Flood's minds are on their England comebacks in the near futures and that they won't really be up for the physical contest

On paper Leicester have the stronger side, but I can see Chiefs sneaking this. No doubt there will be a bitter, swirling wind bashing SP and Chiefs always seem to raise their game against Tigers.

Will be a tough outing for the Tigers but they should be able to pull this one off if they perform. Harrison at 9 should set a good tempo for Flood and the backs to work from, the Tigers back three are looking a little pedestrian at the moment which is a concern. Good pack with Ed Slater adding some much needed physicality to proceedings and a bench which should provide some impact particualry Mulipola and Hawkins who both love running ball in hand.

No excuses for Leicester. With a virtually full strength backline they should win.

I expect Leicester to sneak this one with Flood and Tuilagi having big matches.

Odd that even though this is a 6 nations weekend thats about as close to the first choice 15 as Tigers ever seem to get out this season.

Flood and Tuilagi are working their way back but Englands loss is their gain.

Hoping that Manu and Flood's minds are on their England comebacks in the near futures and that they won't really be up for the physical contest

If they can't get themselves up for a Tigers game then they should be at a different club! This is not a game to be taken lightly and Cockers will not have needed to tell them that, show the video from the first day of the season and remind them that revenge is needed, the loss at WR must be avenged.

Good Exeter team though, particularly the backrow which has a nice balance to it, I'd expect Mieres to be chomping at the bit to prove that Cockers was wrong not to extend his stay at Tigers.

Whats happened with Kitchener? Wasn't he supposed to be one the new shining lights at lock for england?

He will be, he's only 21 and is developing quite nicely at Tigers where there is quite a lot to learn. He teamed up well with Slater over the Christmas period and I think we'll see a lot more of that combination next season after Skivington leaves. To be honest I'd have Kitchener and Slater over Skivs at the minute.

Thanks Sam. Thought he was young but didn't realise he was that young! No better place for a lock to develop than at Leicester. I'd say Tigers will win, but it will be close. Exeter always up their game, ever since their first game in the premiership where they ran you very close

Kitch has played a fair bit recently, and looked to be taking his chance well. He struggled being thrown in the deep end at the start of the season and didn't really perform, so found himself down the order and putting the graft in. Few players just walk into the Tigers side without Cockers making them put the effort in on the training park.

He looked good in his recent matches though, so appears to be settling now, and as Sam said, with Skivs moving, he will get his shots.

Strong team there for Tigers, lets hope manu hits the ground running. No 36, is he injured?

Dropped I would think. Didn't really come out of the departure news particularly well, then coupled that with some pretty poor showings for the Saxons. Stuck with Allen, who has been with the squad and getting his match sharpness back. Most would rather have Ford on the bench too I think.

Fair enough. Glad to see Ford there, he looked electric for the U20's. The more time he gets in the prem the better.

He looked really good for Leicester at the beginning of the season. Big problem then was the defence and I though Ford was tackling well. I think if he can get some time in the relatively full strength Leicester side at some point he'll do really well

Tigers lead 8-6 at half time. Tigers started the better and led through a try in the corner from Alesana after good play from Flood and Murphy.

Exeter came back and finished the half strongly though and put Leicester under pressure, Camacho going close.

Anybody's game.

Well done Chiefs!! I'd have prefered it if you'd won by 2 for SportGuru though! The race for the top 4 is going to get very interesting with just 4 points seperating Saints in 3rd and Glaws in 8th. With Exeter sitting in 5th, are you starting to dream of HC rugby?...

How were Manu, Flood and Allen?

Great game, two teams giving it all

That's the double over Tigers this season then As. No mean feat that.

AsLongAsBut100ofUs wrote: Great game, two teams giving it all

Well played The Chiefs, get it out of the system now though please, I'd like to see a little more benevolence when Bath come to town again....

...... and no more jaw-breakers please.

Ta.

Well done .
Tigers must be looking over their shoulders now with trepidation. In danger of losing out in a playoff spot.

It's all very close for the play offs. Before the weekend 3rd, 4th and 5th in the table were Tigers, Saints and Irish, all of whom lost, with the next four teams in the table, Sale, Gloucester, Cheifs and Bath winning.

I think there is now somthing like 4 points seperating 3rd from 8th in the table, so if anyone can put a little run together they will be in with a real chance of a play off place.

Very true Ozzy it is starting to look very tight around the whole play off area and with Tigers not even getting a LBP we really slipped up at Sandy Park. There's certainly no shame in losing to the Chiefs (especially at their place) but we must get points even if they are just bonus points as I can't see us winning an away semi final so it's top 2 or nothing.