Young Chiefs triumph again

By Mark Stevens

Ricky Pellow was full of praise for his Exeter Chiefs youngsters as they made it ‘three out of three’ with a 26-22 pre-season victory at the Cornish All Blacks.

Having already seen off Redruth and Exmouth in the past fortnight, the visiting Chiefs again had too much for their National League opponents as tries from Ed Holmes, Alex Wilcockson, Stuart Townsend and Tom Holdsworth, coupled with conversions from Ted Landry (2) and Charlie Wicks, ensured their success at Polson Bridge.

The All Blacks played their part in a hard-fought encounter as they claimed a penalty try and further touchdowns from Sam Chapman and Matt Sheppard, but it was not enough to thwart the young visitors.

Post-match, Pellow was again quick to highlight the effort and commitment put in by his side, which was buoyed by the inclusion of senior stars Brett Sturgess and Sireli Naqelevuki.

He said: “Coming to Launceston is always a tough place, simply because you know they are going to get stuck in to you; they’ll be physical and they’ll want to take the game to you. For us, though, it was a good work-out and a really good way to finish off this block of three games for the Academy.

“Each week we’ve seen the guys rise to the challenge of playing senior rugby and to come away with wins out of all three games is very pleasing. For us as a club, these games provide a massive learning tool for not only the players, but also for us as coaches as well,

“Not only have we been able to get our senior academy guys playing some decent rugby, but we’ve managed to integrate lads from the University of Exeter and also a few of the senior guys who are working their way back to fitness after long-term injuries.

“Having that opportunity to get game time into all of those players is invaluable to us and it allows us to see how those players react and play in certain conditions. Over the whole period there have been guys who have put their hands up and shown they are more than capable of playing at that next level, which in this case could be an A League or LV= Cup game.”

Among those to shine at Polson was back-row forward Sam Skinner who, after a year or so on the sidelines, is now fighting fit and showing the Chiefs coaching staff of his blossoming talents.

Pellow was included in the list of admirers, adding: “I thought Sam showed some nice touches out there. He’s a guy who has been out of action for well over a year now, yet he’s worked hard to get back playing and these last few weeks have been a really good base for him to work from.

“There have been others as well, guys like Jack Stanley, Jack Maunder and Josh Caulfield, all of whom have shown that even though they are still young in terms of their development, they have the ability to step up and play senior rugby.  For us as coaches, the signs moving forward are hugely encouraging and we believe it will only get better.”

Indeed, Pellow believes next season the Chiefs Academy side will look to test themselves against even higher level opposition such as Plymouth Albion and the Cornish Pirates, such has been the quality and progression made.

“This group of players have shown they can play and cope with this standard of rugby, but next year we’ll perhaps to look to push that on once again,” continued Pellow. “I’ve no doubt exposing these guys to a better standard of rugby will only help bring them on even more. Watching them play in these last three games, they’ve probably learnt more in that time than they would have done had they been playing in college for two or three months.

“As I said, for us as coaches it’s just a case of building on all the positives of these last few weeks and seeing where it takes us in the long run.”