'Iribaren could be their man of the match' - Fans shocked at Racing halfback's Champions Cup final performance
Exeter’s thrilling 31-27 victory over Parisian club Racing 92 will be remembered for the Devon-club’s goal line defence to prevent Racing from taking the lead with 10-minutes to go, but it was one very forgettable night for Racing scrumhalf Teddy Iribaren.
The French halfback was benched at halftime, replaced by Maxime Machenaud, after a horrific showing in the first half that allowed Exeter to race out to a 14-0 lead. Machenaud was seen warming up after just 25-minutes after a host of Iribaren errors handed momentum to the Chiefs.
Iribaren’s night started with a failed touch finder in just the second minute, squandering an early penalty just past halfway by kicking the ball dead and letting Exeter off the hook when a line out from inside their 22 beckoned.
A short while later, the 9 inexplicably took a quick throw in to himself after a long Jack Nowell exit kick. Exeter pinned the isolated halfback and earned a holding-on penalty resulting in a 90-metre territory and possession swing that the Chiefs scored their first try from.
His performance went from bad to worse, throwing a high-risk pass in-field after coving a territorial kick from Joe Simmonds. Instead of letting the ball roll into touch, giving his side the throw, Iribaren grabbed the ball at the last second before throwing a loose pass to Juan Imhoff. Exeter’s kick chase unit swarmed the winger and won another penalty, kicking to the corner.
After Exeter knocked on from the line out throw, Iribaren’s misplaced pass from the five metre scrum to Finn Russell for the clearing kick was knocked on in the in-goal, almost leading to a gift try to the Chiefs.
If that wasn’t enough, the scrumhalf then gave away two straight penalties as his side tried to defend their own line. Exeter barged over shortly after to score their second try through Sam Simmonds.
Fans were shocked at how irresponsible Racing’s halfback was, with one fan labelling his performance as ‘the worst opening 15 minutes I’ve ever seen’, another calling for an early subsitution as he was ‘all over the shop’.
If Exeter win this, Iribaren could be their man of the match. #EXEvR92
— Ruck ’n’ Roll (@RnRRugby) October 17, 2020
Teddy Iribaren is having perhaps the worst opening 15 mins of rugby I’ve ever seen.
Kicking dead, *that pass* on the 5m line, penalties conceded.
Racing would benefit if he got sin binned at this rate.#EXEvR92 #ChampionsCupFinal
— The Travelling Reserve (@TravelReserve) October 17, 2020
Couple of costly errors from Teddy Iribaren early on.
Missing touch and then taking the quick lineout to himself. Big errors early in a European final. #EXEvR92
— Murray Kinsella (@Murray_Kinsella) October 17, 2020
Iribaren is the epitome of French right here
— Mark (@Mark_B_5) October 17, 2020
Iribaren having a William Bateman style performance at scrum half #EXEvR92
— Noel Lyons (@noel2384) October 17, 2020
I'd be changing my scrum half if I was the Racing coach. Iribaren is all over the shop.
— Doug the Prop🏉💙💛 (@DougProp) October 17, 2020
Seriously Iribaren needs gone.
— Fi (@Fiona_Hunter18) October 17, 2020
Of two hugely enjoyable rugby matches this afternoon, I enjoyed the RL game the more – the Heineken final was also compelling, but decided ultimately by errors from Iribaren & Russell
— John Field 🌻 (@John__Field) October 17, 2020
Exeter were excellent, but their MVP was either Owens or Iribarren.
— TeamCam (@TeamCam9) October 17, 2020
Despite Iribaren’s nightmare opening stanza, Racing were able to hit back each and every time Exeter were able to score with missed conversions ultimately being the difference between the two sides.
A sublime pass from Finn Russell reminiscent of his famous passes for Scotland, found Simon Zebo out wide who streaked away to score in the corner to cut Exeter’s lead back to 14-5.
A cheeky dart from Juan Imhoff became Racing’s second, as the Argentine winger ghosted over to score untouched from the base of the ruck after a weight of possession by Racing. At 14-12 the French club were well and truly back in the match but conceded a costly try to Harry Williams on the stroke of the halftime to go into the sheds down 21-12.
Zebo scored his second try shortly after the resumption of play after a high shot from Henry Slade gave Racing an early attacking opportunity. Finn Russell gave the points straight back when Jack Nowell intercepted the flyhalf just outside Racing’s 22. The England winger found centre Slade with an offload and Exeter extended their lead to 28-17 again.
When Camille Chat scored to reduce the gap to 28-24, half an hour remained. Both sides kicked penalty goals in a frantic final 30 to leave a four point difference between the two sides at full time.
After the game, Exeter’s Director of Rugby said it wasn’t his usual side that showed up, saying that Exeter’s performance had some of the ‘poorest attack and poorest defence’ he’d seen all season.
“My emotions are all over the place,” Exeter rugby director Baxter said.
“It was a funny game, wasn’t it? It kind of wasn’t an Exeter Chiefs type of game, yet we ended up winning it. We didn’t really piece the game together at all.
“In some ways, it was some of our poorest attack and poorest defence of the season.”
It was Racing 92’s third Champions Cup final loss after defeats to Saracens in 2016 and Leinster in 2018. They will be left to rue a final 10-minutes in which they turned down a penalty shot from the sideline to push for a try.
Trailing by just two points, the French club refused to take the three or set-up for a drop goal despite multiple phases in front of Exeter’s posts. After a long period of possession, a turnover on the goal line in the 75th minute after 19 phases killed off Racing’s chances.
They were unable to get back into Exeter 22 and watched as Joe Simmonds kicked a long-range penalty as time expired.
Comments on RugbyPass
Always reluctant to blame a coach when losses rack up, but Penney must go. The backline is dysfunctional and the coach must carry the can. No cohesion, no idea and in many cases, minimal skill. The trains out of Roma St depart faster than the ball from Crusaders’ set pieces. Wouldn’t be surprised if the forwards went on strike.
1 Go to commentsAdding to earlier comment. Cullen Grace has been playing great at no6. Lio-Willie , who was on fire a few weeks ago, had a bad game. I think Cullen should have been moved to 8 earlier, Dominic Gardiner on earlier. Feel for Quinten Strange , put in a big shift .
4 Go to commentsWe dominated the scrums Ben Curry was all over pitch again .Surely James Harper got to be one of best English tightheads
1 Go to commentsRoos is a better option at 6 than 8 for the boks. Needs to work on his windgat though.
1 Go to commentsThe Sharks’ 2nd team maybe?
1 Go to comments‘radical’
1 Go to commentsCome back to Christchurch Robbie, please!
1 Go to commentsI think there is zero chance Sam Cane will be selected for another Test. There is simply no point except sentimentality. Razor is not sentimental- ask Wyatt Crocket. Razor is a ruthless selector
4 Go to comments> It would be best described as an elegant solution to what was potentially going to be a significant problem for new All Blacks coach Scott Robertson. It is a problem the mad population of New Zealand will have to cope with more and more as All Blacks are able to continue their careers in NZ post RWCs. It will not be a problem for coaches, who are always going to start a campaign with the captain for the next WC in mind. > Cane, despite his warrior spirit, his undoubted commitment to every team he played for and unforgettable heroics against Ireland in last year’s World Cup quarter-final, was never unanimously admired or respected within New Zealand while he was in the role. Neither was McCaw, he was considered far too passive a captain and then out of form until his last world cup where everyone opinions changed, just like they would have if Cane had won the WC. > It was never easy to see where Cane, or even if, he would fit into Robertson’s squad given the new coach will want to be building a new-look team with 2027 in mind. > Cane will win his selections on merit and come the end of the year, he’ll sign off, he hopes, with 100 caps and maybe even, at last, universal public appreciation for what was a special career. No, he won’t. Those returning from Japan have already earned the right to retain their jersey, it’s in their contract. Cane would have been playing against England if he was ready, and found it very hard to keep his place. Perform, and they keep it however. Very easy to see where Cane could have fit, very hard to see how he could have accomplished it choosing this year as his sabbatical instead of 2025, and that’s how it played out (though I assume we now know what when NZR said they were allowing him to move his sabbatical forward and return to NZ next year, they had actually agreed to simply select him for the All Blacks from overseas, without any chance he was going to play in NZ again). With a mammoth season of 15 All Black games they might as well get some value out of his years contract, though even with him being of equal character to Richie, I don’t think they should guarantee him his 100 caps. That’s not what the All Blacks should be about. He absolutely has to play winning football.
4 Go to commentswhat’s happening to Ian Peel?
1 Go to commentsAs a Crusaders fan , so disappointed , again.But I think Fergus Burke was all class for the Crusaders in his first game since October last year. Fletcher Newell , was so good at prop. Johnny McNicoll has been gold since returning from Wales. Noah Hotham brilliant , in a coming of age second season for the Crusaders.Jone Rova did really well at centre. The end of the game was tough.Sevu Reece , what a game/season in tough times.
4 Go to commentsFellas a balloon
3 Go to commentsBlues B team on display and made no race of it. By far the best team in SR with the Hurricanes barely getting past the winning post. Up the Blues 💙
7 Go to commentsWould be amazing to have Servette Genève reaching this level
3 Go to commentsThe Crusaders can't buy a win this season. Surely Penney's contract won't be renewed. There's still enough talent in the squad that they oughta be winning more.
1 Go to commentsABs captain for 23 seasons. Decent record. Surely nobody will surpass it. Legend. But alas a typo…
4 Go to commentsJust FYI Rugbypass, I for one am tired of your clickbait titles and thumbnails and will be clicking them no longer. Good day.
1 Go to commentsI think Farrell despite all of the stick he gets in the media is still one of if not the best fly half in the world. He is literally the full package. He can kick one of the best in the world, probably has the best defensive game of a fly half in the world and if he wants to he can run, take contact and find an offload to keep the pace of the attack. I dont know why he isnt spoken more about still being one of the best in the world with the likes of dupont. Farrell is the ultimate captain and team leader and is experienced- he has been in nearly any situation you can think of. I still believe due to these reasons that he is England’s best ever player and is still one of the best players in the world.
48 Go to commentsBlues are dominating up front and that’s been a long time coming. They have won the up front confrontation which is where canes, hilanders and act brumbies are also strong.
7 Go to commentsJust watched brumbies v safas game sadly not a show in he’ll thryr anywhere near quarters or semi contention. Admittedly some issues around new comers bot what stands out for me is coaching management, poor game planning and accuracy.
5 Go to comments