- Total Match Points <41.5 (5/6, Paddy Power)
- Jack Yeandle anytime try-scorer (7/2, Sporting Index)
- Newcastle Points <15.5 (10/11 Paddy Power)
By their own high standards, Exeter are going through a mini-slump. A scrappy 21-17 win over Worcester last weekend saw the Chiefs return to winning ways after back-to-back defeats to Bristol and Wasps but it was hardly the stuff of double-winning champions.
Performances have been sketchy, to say the least, but today’s game against Newcastle will not be about how well they play, just about getting the job done.
Newcastle don’t have the same depth in player resources that the Chiefs do and that shows in the respective matchday 23s, but what they do have is plenty of fight and defensive organisation. Getting to and from the northeast from deepest Devon is not easy, and neither will the 80 minutes in between.
With a keen eagerly wind blowing and snow forecast, the game will be all about dominating territory and possession. These sides love to keep the ball (they’re the only teams in the Premiership to average more than 20 minutes possession per match) and build pressure that way but with a slippery ball, that may not be easy.
The Chiefs will rely on their tried-and-tested driving line out whenever they get near the opposition 22, and Newcastle’s discipline will have to be on-point if they are going to stay in the fight. Any cheap penalties will be kicked to the corners with the Chiefs looking to muscle their way over from there.
There’s a good chance any tries that are scored will be by the forwards and Jack Yeandle, the Chiefs hooker, looks decent value at 7/2 as an anytime try-scorer, given he’s likely to latch to the back of such mauls.
This has all the makings of an attritional, low-scoring game, and one the Chiefs will dog out.
