Exeter Chiefs vs Cornish Pirates - pre-season warm-up II

Exe welcome neighbours Pirates to Sandy Park for their second pre-season warm-up fixture. Head Coach Rob Baxter, not surprisingly, has said that he is looking for big improvements in accuracy and execution and a significant step-up in intensity against the Cornishmen, after a "poor" display in their opening match against a young and hungry Connacht side (including a couple of former Chiefs in Dave Gannon and Eoin Grace). Only Sireli Naqelevuki and Josh Tatupu retain their places in the starting XV as Baxter looks to test the depth of the squad and give all players a chance to stake their claim for a place in what will be a gruelling campaign including a debut in the Heino.

Exeter Chiefs vs Cornish Pirates:

Brett Sturgess
Simon Alcott
Craig Mitchell
Damien Welch
Aly Muldowney
James Phillips
Tom Johnson
Kai Hortsmann

Will Chudley
Ignacio Mieres

Mark Foster
Sireli Naqelevuki
Jason Shoemark
Josh Tatupu

Luke Arscott

Replacements:
Carl Rimmer
Jack Yeandle
Chris Budgen
Will Carrick-Smith
Dave Ewers
Ben White
Justin Blanchet
Junior Polu
Miles Dorrian
Nic Sestaret
Jack Arnott
Jack Nowell
Sam Hill

Good to see Mieres back in harness at pivot, altho his normal halfback partner Haydn Thomas has yet to appear so perhaps is carrying an injury. Interesting too to see TJ at openside, and the replacements contain an impressively youthful flavour, the evergreen legend that is Budgie aside!

Final warm-up game vs Glasgow Warriors at Millbrae in Ayr next Thursday evening, before the real thing kicks off with a home AP fixture versus Sale Sharks.

Chiefs 56-3 Pirates

http://www.exeterchiefs.co.uk/latest-headlines?item=1674

Sounds like a very useful workout, with a lot of rustiness smoothed away. Nacho Mieres imposed control on the game from the off, and the Chudley/Dorrian combination could well be the back-up half-back pairing. Impressive first starts for newbies Damien Welch and Kai Horstmann, with an all rond quality display from the Chiefs. Will Carrick-Smith will be a Richie-Gray monster when he stops growing and fills out. Shoey showed why he is such an important creative force in the Exe backline, creating space for Tatupu, Arscott and Nowell to wreak havoc. Great to see Junior Fats and Tom Bedford making a welcome return to SP albeit in Pirates colours, who will enjoy the company of Chiefs Sam Hill, Dave Ewers and Javk Nowell who are dual-registered with them.

Not much to be read into the scoreline, far more from the way in which the Chiefs showed that lessons from the Connacht game had been learned.

Pretty much a stroll in the park and an opportunity to try some training ground moves. Having said that it was good to see how well these were executed. What did stand out was the gulf between the AP and Championship. Pirates have made the play-off final in the last two seasons and although they've lost a few players last season's result for this match was 53-3.