How do we beat Exeter?

This is becoming a long drawn out affair.  The battle with Exeter Chiefs has been running ever since our two clubs have been in the Premiership, those with a longer memory will know the battle raged long before that and it doesn't look good for us.

Back in June 2014 I wrote about the fact everyone thought we should be trying to emulate the formula that has been so successful in Devon.

At the time I disputed this and thought the Northampton model was more realistic and would better suit our club.

You have to go back to the 2004 season to find the last time we beat Exeter.  Obviously there was then a long gap before we were in the same league again, but still the following 9 fixtures have all resulted in an Exeter win.

Two years ago I clearly did not agree with the general consensus that we wanted to be the next Exeter.

 This for me is the key.  "Building a squad, bringing on youth and building on a winning culture".  Our inability to retain talent has always prevented us from kicking on from any kind of success.

Using 11 of the guys involved in the Bristol final, Exeter opened their Premiership account with a win against Gloucester.  They kept their talent, built from within and maintained that all important winning culture.  It looks like even Kvesic has bought into the Exeter dream.

We did the same, having also beaten Bristol in the final we kept the core of the winners together and won our first game in the league.  Ironically for this article, against Saints.

My argument at the time was that Saints had gone on to be more immediately successful than Exeter and that I thought they would be more sustainable.

We all know that we have made some shocking recruitment decisions.  We have all seen that going out and trying to buy our way up the league does not work.  I am pretty sure we all thought Dean Ryan, love him or hate him, finally had the backing to build on success, bring in talent and start to retain the talent our academy produces.  Clearly not.

Nick Johnston though may still hold the key.  Since Nick arrived our facilities have been stepped up, our academy heavily invested in and be it a season early due to massive injury lists, we are finally starting to see academy players getting Premiership caps.

So, two years ago I thought we could do better than being Exeter and I still think the same, we should be beating Exeter.

At their peak, pushing for Premiership fame the majority of the Exeter 23 were in their first full season as Premiership players.  They took fine margins and delivered results.  What may previously have been a draw or LBP loss they turned into wins.  I am not saying we can finish in the top 4 but I do think we are capable of winning more games this season.

Ruskin, Singleton, Schonert - A great front row.  Our props, though not academy strictly have come through as junior players and thrived.  Vals statistics have him down as one of the best props in the country.  Singleton is a very exciting hooker, performs well at age group international level and has been solid so far this season.

Andrew "little Kitch" Kitchener - 6'8" and probably still growing.  Looked more than capable after replacing DOC.  Hopefully a Kitch we will get to see mature at Worcester.

Barry - Reminds me a lot of Percy.  Puts his head were it shouldn't be and delivers results.

Potgieter, Kirwan and Dowson: Clearly not academy but a great combination.  Potgieter should now be fully match fit so we can expect even better performances from him.

Arr - The oldest academy prospect going.  Always steady in a Warriors shirt.

Shillcock: Arrived at 9, played 10 for England, came back as a 15 and now playing at 10 like it was always his shirt.  A very exciting prospect as we all know.

The backs are very exciting this week:  Adams, Heem and Pennell.  Bryce made immediate impact last time out and Josh has been getting better and better each week.

The switch of Hammond to centre is interesting.  Willison has been left on the bench for this partnership with Olivier.  There must be some serious results being delivered in training for this to be tried, away at Exeter.

The bench is solid with some serious impact, so we should be able to compete for the full 80 and put up a great fight.

So, how do we beat Exeter? 

Do not do what we did against Wasps, do not try and play them at their own game.  Play ours.

Hogg needs to back his plans, Cross needs to ensure that our defence is solid and Vesty needs to give the backs confidence to play their game.

The biggest key is the instill belief, ensure the pack functions and get the ball out quickly to those backs.  There is so much pace and talent in our backs that they should be scoring tries against any of the best teams in the country, which is handy as Exeter are clearly one of the best right now!

We need to turn our recent narrow losses into success and get success back into the team.  We have world cup winning talent, we have young international talent and we have future internationals across the 23 - we now need to deliver the biggest double of our season.  An away win against Exeter.

#COYW