Whitten ready for French test

By David Byrom
14/10/16

Ian Whitten says Exeter Chiefs should treasure their match against Clermont Auvergne on Sunday (5:30pm).

The Chiefs take on the French giants in the European Champions Cup for a second season in a row after they produced a huge performance to overcome Franck Azéma's side 31-14 at Sandy Park.

Yet, following a stuttering start to the season for the Chiefs, Whitten says they will have to reproduce the same heroics this time around if they want to start their 2016/17 European adventure with a bang.

"We can take a lot of heart from what we did last year," he said. "It was probably one of our best performances, at home to Clermont last year, and it will take something similar.

"They're the sort of side we'll have to hit our best form against; that's the challenge for us, as it will have to be right up there if we want to win, just because of the way they play.

"It's a great challenge for us and it's a game you should treasure, as they're one of the best teams in Europe.

"You should always look forward to those games and always look to produce your best performance, as they're the sort of team and the sort of players you want to challenge yourself against."

The Northern Irish centre feels the Chiefs should treasure the opportunity to play such a high quality side and that they should take stock of being ranked amongst Europe's glittering elite.

"I look forward to European games every year, as it's a bit of a change, and the way we look at it back home is that it's a very prestigious competition," he said.

"We're playing against the best in Europe, right across the board, so it's a great challenge for the club.

"It's actually great for the club, as it's only six years in the top league and you think about who you're playing against.

"Those are the games to treasure, as it's really special for the boys to play in and the club to play in, so it's those sorts of games to produce your best stuff in."

The 29-year-old was a two-try hero in last weekend's last-gasp 27-27 draw to Gloucester, which he believes shows the character in the club.

Whitten also says the Chiefs need that character right now, with the side having got off to mixed start to their Premiership campaign.

"There's character in the club and character in the team," he said. "I'd back the boys to score two tries in 10 minutes at any stage in any game and, when we knuckled down, we did that.

"That's the most pleasing thing, as you can't train character and we showed our fighting qualities at the end.

"We'll need that going forward as we've got a few things to fix and we need to turn up and start being a bit more honest with ourselves.

"We're not quite where we should be and we're not quite playing the way we'd like to be, so it's up to us to fix it.

"We'll have to be a bit more honest with ourselves and a bit tougher on ourselves, as we're six games in and we haven't got there yet."