{"id":376673,"date":"2025-12-28T19:47:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-28T19:47:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/376673\/"},"modified":"2025-12-28T19:47:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-28T19:47:10","slug":"hes-physical-hes-abrasive-very-game-smart-england-cant-ignore-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/376673\/","title":{"rendered":"‘He\u2019s physical, he\u2019s abrasive, very game-smart… England can\u2019t ignore him’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Greg Fisilau has been backed to catch England\u2019s attention after he inspired Exeter to a 24-10 Gallagher Prem victory over Leicester<\/a> at Sandy Park.<\/p>\n

Fisilau scored the Chiefs\u2019 opening try, helped set-up the decisive touch down finished by Stephen Varney<\/a> and was named man of the match for an impactful afternoon in attack and defence.<\/p>\n

The 22-year-old number eight has appeared for England<\/a> A, but Exeter attack coach Dave Walder insists it is only a matter of time before Steve Borthwick<\/a> takes a closer look at a player who has been in blockbusting form this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love working with Greg. He\u2019s got everything you\u2019d want from a back-rower. He\u2019s physical, he\u2019s abrasive, very game-smart, but he\u2019s also got lovely soft skills,\u201d Walder said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s playing very well at the moment. If he keeps playing like that, I\u2019d imagine England can\u2019t ignore him, but you\u2019d have to ask them that question.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Team Match Summary \"Team <\/p>\n

Exeter finished 2024 bottom of the Prem table but sign off 2025 in second place following a remarkable transformation.<\/p>\n

Top spot was theirs for the taking but the bonus point they needed slipped through their fingertips after the ball was spilt over the line twice in the closing moments, limiting them to three tries for the afternoon.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis morning if you\u2019d offered us a win, we\u2019d have taken it. But I think deep down we\u2019re a little bit disappointed with our accuracy and not to score ourselves an extra bonus point,\u201d Walder said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the same time that\u2019s a sign of where we\u2019ve come from and where we are at the moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not too focused on where we are in the league, it\u2019s about the process. The boys are working hard and have a great attitude and defence. We\u2019re in a really positive place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leicester head coach Geoff Parling<\/a> read his Tigers the riot act at half-time following a poor opening 30 minutes and the former England lock felt they had failed to do themselves justice.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought it was the poorest we have been emotionally in turning up for a game,\u201d Parling said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the first time this season that we have lacked a bit of edge, especially in that first 30 minutes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we got quick ball and speed of ball we looked dangerous, but I have to look at how we prepped the week because I just didn\u2019t think we were on today.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had an intermittent training week, sometimes we were good and sometimes we were bad.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not good enough yet to have those off days. That\u2019s the first time, and the group will admit it, that we weren\u2019t quite on edge in terms of our collisions and how we were playing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re back at home against Saracens<\/a> now and we\u2019ve got to play with the right edge because that for me wasn\u2019t our DNA today.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Greg Fisilau has been backed to catch England\u2019s attention after he inspired Exeter to a 24-10 Gallagher Prem…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":376674,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-376673","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-rugby","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376673","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=376673"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376673\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/376674"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=376673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=376673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=376673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}