Youngsters impress Pellow

Exeter Chiefs’ young squad missed out on qualification for the finals of the Premiership Rugby Sevens, but coach Ricky Pellow was delighted with the promise they showed on Thursday night.

Chiefs began the evening with a 29-14 defeat to the hosts Gloucester but fought back to beat Bath 33-12.

However, their hopes of reaching the finale at the Twickenham Stoop this Friday were ended by a 24-5 loss to London Irish in their third and final game.

Chiefs’ skills coach Pellow said: “Sevens can be quite brutal. There was a period in the Gloucester game where it ran away from us, but if we had nailed down our chances earlier on it could have been different.

“The most pleasing thing, for us as coaches, was the way the guys learned. All the things we talked about from the first game against Gloucester, they put into practice in the second game against Bath.

“To turn over Bath, who had a strong sevens side out, and then be in contention to qualify, going into the last game against London Irish, was really pleasing. I’m frustrated we didn’t qualify for the finals next week, but it was a massive learning curve for our guys.”

With most of the senior Chiefs players away for the week, as part of their pre-season training regime, it fell to younger players and talented youngsters from the academy to lead the Devon club.

Torquay-born back-row Sam Simmonds was skipper for the night and impressed Pellow and his fellow coaches.

“The average age of our squad was 20 and people like Sam Simmonds were outstanding,” he said. “It was great for us as coaches to see these young players, and guys from the academy, perform in that environment.”

“I thought Sam led from the front really well as skipper. Some of the ball-carries and tackles he put in were fantastic. Jack Faulkner (pictured above) was another one who did really. He looked strong with the ball in hand and scored three really good tries.

“Max Bodilly (pictured) and Tom Hendrickson showed that playing in the Championship on dual-registration works well and Stu Townsend put in some outstanding cover tackles.”

Pellow now hopes to see a number of those players graduate to the Chiefs’ full first team and the Braves this season, and eventually challenge the more established senior players for Premiership rugby.

He said: “Those guys will take that experience on now for when they get their chance with the first team in the A League or the LV= Cup. They played in front of 13,000 people and a really hostile crowd – especially in the first game – and that will put them in really good stead for the future.”