Chiefs side to face Harlequins
By Mark Stevens
23/9/22
It’s been an encouraging start to the new Gallagher Premiership season for Exeter Chiefs, but Director of Rugby, Rob Baxter, says no one at the club will be resting on their laurels moving forward.
An opening day success over defending champions Leicester Tigers was followed up last weekend with an impressive win on the road at Worcester Warriors. Now, the Chiefs must ready themselves for the visit of Harlequins to Sandy Park in Round Three on Sunday (3pm).
Over the years the two clubs have enjoyed some titanic battles, including the final day of last season when the Devonians edged a high-scoring encounter 47-38.
The Chiefs, however, will go into the contest brimming with confidence and buoyed by the return to fitness of some of their stellar names, Baxter is confident his team can continue to build on their early season form.
“What I’ve liked from watching us is just how hard we’ve been willing to work,” he said. “That’s always been a main quality of ours here at Exeter, but it’s what is key to any successful side. Right now, we look like we want to work hard and are able to work hard.”
A gruelling pre-season programme has certainly put the Chiefs in fine fettle and their strength over the opening two games was clearly evident in two powerful performances across the board.
“They’ve been two very strong performances,” added Baxter. “Against Leicester we got ourselves into a great position and in control of things, but then allowed a couple of errors to allow them back into the game. Crucially, we didn’t fold at any point and for that final 20 minutes there was only ever going to be one winner.
“Last week up at Worcester, the guys knew what was coming, but they dealt with it. It was an emotional day for everyone connected with Worcester and fair play to their crowd, it was one of the best atmospheres I’ve seen up there. That said, we responded to all of that and we kept them at arms length throughout the match. Come the end, we finished two scores clear and that’s not tended to happen too much up there before, even when we have won games.”
Back on home soil once more, Baxter wants to see ‘more of the same’ from his troops in this latest battle.
“The fact we’re home in a lot ways is more important than Harlequins, just because I want us to perform here,” continued the Chiefs boss. “What we’ve talked about this week - and I will remind them again now - is it’s a home game and we set high standards for home games of ourselves.
“In the last game you could see what a big home performance could do and the atmosphere it can create. Against Leicester, you could feel the crowd growing and growing and they played a huge part in the game. There was huge energy within the ground and it felt like Leicester were hanging on and that we were growing, it’s just whether we would run out of time in the end.
“It was like what Sir Alex Ferguson used to say: ‘we weren’t going to get beat, but we may run out of time’, and that’s kind of how it felt. For me, that’s how I want us to be, I want us to be that team that is coming forward all the team, whether we’re in front or behind, we need to be pushing forward and challenging.”
Team news for the hosts sees Baxter make a number of changes, including handing first starts of the season to England trio Luke Cowan-Dickie, Harry Williams and Henry Slade, as well as Dave Ewers and Ruben Van Heerden.
The replacements bench is also boosted by the return of British & Irish Lions duo Sam Simmonds and Stuart Hogg, both of whom undergone surgery during the close season, plus Welsh lock Dafydd Jenkins and scrum-half Sam Maunder.
