Chiefs side to face Bath

Buoyed by back-to-back victories over Harlequins and Saracens in the past fortnight, the table-topping Chiefs will be looking to continue their rich vein of form against their nearest and dearest, who themselves will arrive in Devon brimming with confidence following recent successes over London Irish and Harlequins.

With a capacity crowd set to pack in for the contest, Baxter says he is looking forward to the challenge that lies ahead. He said: “Games between ourselves and Bath are always great occasions and I’ve no doubt this weekend will be the same. We’ve enjoyed some big old tussles with them over the years - and that includes both games last season.

“As a group we’ve talked this week about last season’s game. On the day they beat us because they stuck in the fight longer than we did. Yes, it still rankles with some of the guys, but what it did show was that if you don’t work absolutely flat out, right until the end, things can still hurt you.

“We did a lot right in that game and we controlled if for large periods, but we let things slip at the end. Looking back, it was the game that probably gave us the jolt we needed. Out of it came the fact that if we wanted to win these big games and keep things in our own hands, we hd to be prepared to fight for everything in the 80 minutes.

“We did that for lots of last season, we’ve done it a lot this season, and if we do it again this weekend for the full 80 minutes, then we give ourselves a great opportunity. If we don’t do it and we switch off, we know Bath have some great players who can cause of a lot of damage.”

Not that this latest meeting needs a huge amount of hype in the build-up to kick-off. With the game selling out weeks ago, Baxter says it’s imperative his side get on the front foot early and get the Sandy Park faithful fully charged.

“It will be big if we can make it big,” added Baxter. “We can’t expect the crowd to be revved up unless we give them something to get after. That is something we probably didn’t do against Harlequins. We started quietly, we didn’t maintain any real intensity, and it was difficult for the crowd to stay on it because there were some many ups and downs.

“This weekend we have to do something in our body language, our intent, and the way we play to get the crowd really going. If we do that, then there is no better place to play rugby than Sandy Park.”

Ahead of kick-off, Baxter is buoyed by the news that his international contingent have all reported back from autumn Test duty in fine fettle. Two of them - Harry Williams and Sam Simmonds - are both included in tomorrow’s match-day squad, while Henry Slade and Tomas Francis are given the weekend off.

Also back in the frame for the first time in eight weeks is England and British Lions international Jack Nowell, who will get his first taste of competitive action since he fractured his eye socket against Newcastle Falcons at the start of October. The Cornishman will start the contest from a star-studded Exeter bench.