Exeter Open Against Gloucester
The Exeter Chiefs will get their Premiership lives started when they take on Gloucester at home in a tough opening match of the rugby English Premiership season on September 4.
Gloucester are a well respected and established Premiership side who will provide a very difficult start for the Premiership new comers. The fact that Gloucester is also based around the South West will add an extra feeling of a derby to the match.
Exeter won promotion by beating Bristol in the Championship play-off final and ever since they have been signing players and trying to improve the stature of the club in order to give themselves the best possible chance for survival.
It does not get any easier for Exeter who will be thrown into a match with the Premiership champions, Leicester, after they have negotiated their way through a battle with Gloucester. It all means that the club may take a little while before they get their points on the board.
Good Start
It's very important for the club to get off to a good start and they will see any points from these two matches as a bonuses. This is because they will be expected to lose both contests despite the hard work they have been putting in during the close season.
However, Exeter have got to get their energy levels up and come out flying from the traps. If they can get into Gloucester and Leicester very early on then they seem like a club who can push on and cause a genuine upset among the rugby world. As the season draws out they will find that clubs are working out how to play effectively against them and it will become harder to score points.
Exeter need to be able to do all of the ugly things well and keep their noses clean in terms of discipline. They will not have a similar squad to either of the first two teams that they are due to play against and this means if they pick up injuries or suspensions early in the season then the squad will be stretched.
Tactics
The club need to spend a long time looking at the tactics that they are going to use in the Premiership. They are well advised to be conventional with their methods and try to get the ball out wide early on, which will give the quicker players in the team a chance to run at the opposition.
However, they will need to find some invention because Leicester and Gloucester are two of the most sound defensive units in the Premiership. They will expect an early onslaught and will soak up all of the pressure before breaking and trying to score at the other end of the field.
The coaches need to work hard and make sure the tactics among the team and club are known throughout. Exeter cannot mess around this season and they have to be professional and efficient with every area. Otherwise they will find themselves back in the Championship within a year.
Betting Advice
Exeter will remain as one of the favourites to go down but they have all of the things they need to stay up. A lot depends on their start and you are well advised to wait and see what this is like before you jump in and start laying all sorts of bets down on the team.
It's impossible at this stage to say whether the attacking players in the side are going to have an impact so bet in play until you can work them out. This will let you approach games with a much more sound idea of who is going to likely to score the most.
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