Chiefs play their cards right

By Peter Jackson of the Rugby Paper
22/6/2016

Exeter Chiefs can claim without fear of contradiction to have shown the rest the cleanest pair of heels in the club game, even in defeat during last month’s Premiership Grand Final at Twickenham.

When it comes to giving the sin bin the widest of berths, England’s second best team are out on their own, indisputably the most disciplined in Europe.   Exeter, and Exeter alone of the other 37 clubs in the three major leagues, kept their yellow card count into single figures.

Their achievement bears striking testimony to head coach Rob Baxter’s policy of playing it by the book and Gareth Steenson’s on-field leadership in ensuring collective adherence to the laws.

They fell foul of them so rarely in respect of yellow card offences that the Chiefs collected a mere eight all season long and none of the few concerned transgressed more than once.    Nobody else could match Exeter’s trend-setting average of one sin-binning for every four matches.

Only three came anywhere close – Ulster, Ospreys and Newcastle Falcons with ten yellow. Ulster’s total of ten, including four in six Champions’ Cup ties, earned them £10,000 to be spent on youth development as the Specsavers’ Fair Play winners, not to be sneezed at but no consolation for their perennial failure to reach the PRO12 final.

Like the Chiefs, their three nearest challengers discharged domestic and European competition without a single red or a proven citing.   Unlike the Chiefs, they all played fewer matches than the Devon club, thereby making their record all the more laudable.

Given the consistency with which they have kept on the right side of the law in recent years, nobody can dismiss their success as a one-off.    Baxter’s Chiefs finished last season’s table, as published exclusively by The Rugby Paper, in fourth position behind the Irish provincial trio of Connacht, Leinster and Munster.

Now they have jumped clear of all three, not just this season but over the last four seasons.      Their aggregate card count, all yellow, for that period stands at 48, compared to Leinster’s 49 and Connacht’s 53.

At the other end of the scale, over the same four seasons, Gloucester have collected the most reds (8), Castres (108) and Grenoble (107) the most yellows.

Over the last two seasons alone, Brive have stacked up 59 cards, La Rochelle 54 and Stade Francias 50.

In their six seasons since winning promotion to the Premiership, the Chiefs have averaged eleven yellows and no reds per season, a figure which puts them clear of every other Premiership team.

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(Figures in brackets show total number of games played.   YC = yellow card (1 point).  RC = red card (3 points).  CP = citing proven (3 points).   CW – commissioner warnings and other misconduct charges.

YC    RC    CP    CW  Points

1 Exeter Chiefs (31)                     8       0       0        0        8

2 Ulster (29)                                      10      0       0        0       10

3 Newcastle Falcons (28)               10      0        0        0       10

4 Northampton Saints (29)            11      0        0        0       11

5 Ospreys (28)                                   10     0        0        1       11

6 Sale Sharks (29)                              8      1        0        1       12

7 Harlequins (31)                              10     0     1           0       13

8 Connacht (31)                                13    0     0           1       14

9  Munster (28)                                 11    0     1           0       14

10 Cardiff Blues (28)                          7    1     1          2       15

11 Edinburgh (28)                            12    0     1           1      16

12 Toulon (34)                                   16    0     0          2       18

13 London Irish (29)                        15    1     0          0       18

14 Gloucester (29)                            13    1     1          0       19

15 Benetton Treviso (28)               13    1     1           1      20

16 Wasps (31)                                    11    1     2          0       20

17 Saracens (33)                                12    2      0         3       21

18  Newport Gwent Dragons (30) 18    0     1          0      21

19 Leinster (30)                                 14    0      3          0      23

20 Bath (28)                                         21    1     0         0       24

21 Zebre (28)                                      21     0     1         0       24

22 Toulouse (33)                               13     1      3        0       25

23 Glasgow Warriors (29)              18     1      1        1       25

24 Scarlets (28)                                  22    0      1        1       26

25 Worcester Warriors (28)           19    1      1        1      26

26 Montpellier (36)                           23    0      1        0      26

27 Leicester Tigers (31)                   12     0     5        1      28

28 La Rochelle (32)                            22    1      1        0      28

29 UB Bordeaux (32)                         19    3      0        0      28

30 Racing 92 (37)                               20     2     1        1       30

31 Brive (32)                                        25     0      1       2       30

32 Oyonnax (32)                                 22    1      2        1       32

33 Clermont Auvergne (33)            26     0     3         0      35

34 Grenoble (34)                                25     2     2         0      37

35 Stade Francais (33)                      24    2      3         0      39

36 Agen (32)                                        24    3      2         1      40

37 Castres Olympique (33)              32    2      2         0     44

38 Pau (32)                                           32    0      4         1     45

 

Most cards (yellow, unless stated):

5 – George Tilsley (Agen)

Bismarck du Plessis (Montpellier)

4 – Alexandre Bias (Castres) including 2 reds.

David Paice (London Irish)

Sekope Kepu (Bordeaux & Australia)

Julien Bardy (Clermont)

3 – Yannick Caballero (Castres)

Lorenzo Cittadini (Wasps)

Johnny Barclay (Scarlets & Scotland)

Maseino Paulino (Scarlets)

Dan Cole (Leicester & England)

Ryan Wilson (Warriors & Scotland)

Antoine Tichit (Castres)

Piula Faasalele (Castres)

Giorgi Jgenti (Brive)

Johan Snyman (Brive)

Peceli Yato (Clermont)

Tino Nemani (Grenoble) including 1 red.

Patrick Gunther (Oyonnax)

Marika Vunibaka (Pau)

Julien Pierre (Pau)

Ben Tameifuna (Racing)

Djbril Camara (Stade Francais)

Thierry Dusautoir (Toulouse)

Dries van Schalkwyk (Zebre)

Most cards in one match:

5 –    Stade Francais (1) v Pau (4).

• - Agen (2) v Racing (3)


• - Racing (1) v Agen (4)


• - Brive (3) v Racing (2)

Most cards by one team in same match:

4 – Pau, Agen, Newport Gwent Dragons.

Longest suspensions:

15 weeks – Laurent Sempere (Stade Francais), Josaia Raisuqe (Stade Francais).

14 weeks – Viktor Kolelishvili (Clermont Auvergne)

10 weeks – Chris Ashton (Saracens)