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Exeter Chiefs vs Northampton Saints LIVE | Gallagher Premiership

RugbyPass Live Match Centre

Follow all the action on the RugbyPass live blog from the Gallagher Premiership match between Exeter Chiefs and Northampton Saints at Sandy Park. 

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Keep up to date with the latest score, stats and join the conversation from anywhere in the world in our Live Match Centre (click here).

Rob Baxter has been forced into changing his winning formula from that which defeated Gloucester last weekend. All three of his changes to the starting line-up come in the back division.

Phil Dollman comes in at full-back for Stuart Hogg, who skippered Scotland against Italy in the Six Nations Championship in Rome; Tom Hendrickson is brought into the midfield alongside Ian Whitten, who will be making his 150th Premiership appearance; and Joe Simmonds returns from his three-game ban to take over the captaincy and No.10 role from Steenson.

On the bench, England international Alec Hepburn is back after recovering from an ankle injury; Don Armand is given the nod ahead of Matt Kvesic; while Max Bodilly fills the void left by Dollman’s elevation into the starting XV. 

(Continue reading below…)

Brian O’Driscoll comments on the behaviour of England boss Eddie Jones

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“Sunday’s going to be interesting, particularly as it’s a top of the table clash,” said Baxter. “Like ourselves, they have got players injured and others away on international duty. They have also share the same ambitions as we do about what they want to achieve.

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“For both sides it’s a big game. At the same time, it’s also a chance for us to put right some of the wrongs we feel after that last home game against Sale. We know we didn’t perform in the first half that day and for me that doesn’t feel right, especially in front of what has been outstanding home support here for a number of seasons.

“Yes, I’m still annoyed and a little bit sore about that – and I know the players feel the same. I’d like t think that come Sunday, this time we will come out firing and put that performance and that half firmly behind us.”

Northampton boss Chris Boyd has made eight changes to his starting line-up, with scrum-half Alex Mitchell set to make his first start of the season.

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Saints have not lost three league fixtures in a row under Boyd’s leadership and will be desperate to pick up a third away win of the season at Sandy Park to close the gap on Premiership pace-setters Exeter.

Mitchell returns from international duty with England to start in the No9 jersey for the first time this campaign following a lengthy injury layoff, partnering James Grayson in the half-back berths.

There are two further changes to Saints’ backline with Andy Symons coming into the midfield to join Matt Proctor, and Ahsee Tuala is selected on the wing – with Tom Collins and full-back Harry Mallinder rounding off the back three.

But Boyd has not been afraid to shuffle his pack after a frustrating defeat to Bristol last time out, as Francois van Wyk, James Fish and Paul Hill all come into the front row for the trip to Devon. Alex Coles keeps his place at lock, but Lewis Bean will pack down alongside him in the engine room with Alex Moon set for a spell on the sidelines after picking up a knee injury last weekend.

Captain Teimana Harrison will lead out Saints in the No.8 jersey, while Tom Wood and JJ Tonks are named as flankers – the latter recalled this week by Northampton from England U20s duty.

Amongst the replacements, Lewis Ludlam, Taqele Naiyaravoro, Cobus Reinach and Fraser Dingwall will all look to make an impact in the second half of the match, while lock Ben Glynn could well make his first Saints appearance off the bench after signing on at Franklin’s Gardens this week.

WATCH: Clive Woodward calls on the SRU to take drastic action against Finn Russell

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H
Hellhound 5 hours ago
Brett Robinson looks forward to 'monumental' year in 2025

I'm not very hopeful of a better change to the sport. Putting an Aussie in charge after they failed for two decades is just disgusting. What else will be brought in to weaken the game? What new rule changes will be made? How will the game be grown?


Nothing of value in this letter. There is no definitive drive towards something better. Just more of the same as usual. The most successful WC team is getting snubbed again and again for WC's hosting rights. What will make other competitions any different?


My beloved rugby is already a global sport. Why is there no SH team chosen between the Boks, AB's, Wallabies and Fiji? Like a B&I Lions team to tour Europe and America? A team that could face not only countries but also the B&I Lions? Wouldn't that make for a great spectacle that will also bring lots of eyeballs to the sport?


Instead with an Aussie in charge, rugby will become more like rugby league. Rugby will most likely become less global if we look at what have become of rugby in Australia. He can't save rugby in Australia, how will he improve the global footprint of rugby world wide?


I hope to be proven wrong and that he will raise up the sport to new heights, but I am very much in doubt. It's like hiring a gardener to a CEO position in a global company expecting great results. It just won't happen. Call me negative or call me whatever you'd like, Robinson is the wrong man for the job.

3 Go to comments
J
JW 5 hours ago
The Fergus Burke test and rugby's free market

The question that pops into my mind with Fergus Burke, and a few other high profile players in his boots right now, and also many from the past to be fair, is can the club scene start to take over this sentimentality of test footy being the highest level? Take for a moment a current, modern day scenario of Toulouse having a hiccup and failing to make this years Top 14 Final, we could end up seeing the strongest French side in History touring New Zealand next year. Why? Because at any one time they could make up over half the French side, but although that is largely avoided, it is very likely at the national teams detriment with the understanding these players have of playing together likely being stronger than the sum of the best players throughout France selected on marginal calls.


Would the pinnacle of the game really not be reached in the very near future by playing for a team like Toulouse? Burke might have put himself in a position where holding down a starting spot for any nation, but he could be putting himself in the hotbed of a new scene. Clearly he is a player that cherishes International footy as the highest level, and is possibly underselling himself, but really he might just be underselling these other nations he thinks he could represent.

Burke’s decision to test the waters with either England or Scotland has been thrown head-first into the spotlight by the relative lack of competition for the New Zealand 10 shirt.

This is the most illogical statement I've ever read in one of your articles Nick. Burke is behind 3 All Stars of All Black rugby, it might be a indictment of New Zealand rugby but it is abosolutely apparent (he might have even said so himself) why he decided to test the waters.

He mattered because he is the kind of first five-eighth New Zealand finds it most difficult to produce from its domestic set-up: the strategic schemer, the man who sees all the angles and all the bigger potential pictures with the detail of a single play.

Was it not one of your own articles that highlighted the recent All Black nature to select a running, direct threat, first five over the last decade? There are plenty of current players of Burke's caliber and style that simply don't fit the in vogue mode of what Dan Carter was in peoples minds, the five eight that ran at the slightest hole and started out as a second five. The interesting thing I find with that statement though is that I think he is firmly keeping his options open for a return to NZ.

A Kiwi product no longer belongs to New Zealand, and that is the way it is. Great credo or greater con it may be, but the free market is here to stay.

A very shortsighted and simplistic way to end a great article. You simply aren't going to find these circumstances in the future. The migration to New Zealand ended in 1975, and as that generation phases out, so too will the majority of these ancestry ties (in a rugby context) will end. It would be more accurate to say that Fergus Burke thought of himself as the last to be able to ride this wave, so why not jump on it? It is dying, and not just in the interests or Scottish of English fans.

51 Go to comments
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