Chiefs side to face Irish
By Mark Stevens
17/5/21
Rob Baxter says his Exeter Chiefs will need to meet ‘fire with fire’ when they take on London Irish in their latest Gallagher Premiership encounter tomorrow evening (7:45pm).
With just four rounds of the regular season remaining, the defending champions know they must maintain their winning formula against the Exiles if they are to secure one of the two all-important, home play-off spots.
Having seen Sale Sharks again leapfrog them into second on Friday night, Baxter is acutely aware there can be no let-off from the Chiefs, whose only defeat in the last seven rounds came at Gloucester on March 26, when Baxter opted for a changed-up team with one eye on their impending European fixture with Lyon.
Since then, the Devonians - buoyed by the return of all their international contingent - have slowly started to work their way through the gears. Back-to-back wins over Wasps and leaders Bristol Bears have since been followed up with an impressive 41-10 victory over Worcester Warriors last time out.
That latest win saw the Chiefs overcome a 10-8 half time deficit before running in 33 unanswered second half points.
For Baxter, it was a telling performance and one he says his players must use ahead of their first-ever trip to the newly-built Brentford Community Stadium.
“I was really pleased with the Worcester performance, particularly that first half,” said Baxter. “I know some people will think that’ a bit funny, especially when we were losing at the break, but I think as a supporter you needed to be here to understand just how bad the conditions were. There were 40mph winds going down the pitch and that is what we were up again in that first half.
“That said, we had put in place a strict and rigid game plan of how we wanted to play, how we wanted to get out of our half and, ultimately, stop Worcester from playing. All in all, we did that very well. The one time Worcester capitalised on one of our errors was when they scored their try, but other than that we kept them at arms length, before managing to score some points of our own.
“You then saw in the second half, other than the odd break-out moment from them, that we pretty much controlled the game and did everything we needed to do. Our ability in that first half, especially when we under that scoreboard pressure, not to over do things was fantastic. Had we tried to force the ball in any way, we could easily have conceded two or three scores. Instead, we stayed patient, we worked hard for one another and, ultimately, that created the platform for us to win.”
Now, Baxter wants to see more of the same from his Chiefs side against an Exiles outfit, who lost the corresponding fixture at Sandy Park 26-3 back in February.
However, in their new state-of-the-art home this season, they have been impressive - losing only twice in the league - the most recent of which came in the dying embers of their derby clash with Harlequins.
And it’s those displays that have forced Baxter to issue a timely warning to his players ahead of kick-off.
“Right here and now, they are a difficult side to put a finger on,” added Baxter. “We’ve seen this season some very good, dogged performances from them, where they have really troubled sides. Equally, they’ve had some disappointing results recently as well.
“If you look at the Harlequins game, they were very competitive for a long period, but then the scoreboard opened up against them and that was that. I’ve no doubt they will be frustrated with that game, yet they have had 10 days now to put it behind them, get themselves refreshed, and get ready for this challenge.
“For us, it’s one of those challenges where you can suddenly drop yourself into the front of a tornado if you are not prepared for it. That’s how we’ve prepared this week because we’ve got to make sure we meet fire with fire.”
With England and British Lions star Jack Nowell set for another spell on the sidelines after hobbling out of the Worcester game with MCL injury, Baxter’s sole change to his back division sees the Cornishman replaced by the returning Alex Cuthbert.
Up front, England internationals Ben Moon and Harry Williams take over from Alec Hepburn and Tomas Francis, whilst Jannes Kirsten returns to the second row alongside Sean Lonsdale, who was a late call-up before the last game after Jonny Gray withdrew from the action in the warm-up.
Tomorrow’s game also marks the first return since December of supporters being back inside stadiums.
“It’s brilliant,” said Baxter. “Personally, I’m really looking forward to it. As soon as there were conversations between ourselves, London Irish, Premiership Rugby and BT Sport about switching to a Tuesday night, so we could get supporters back in, we were all in favour.
“I think with the situation we are in, we’ve all got to be pro-active in trying to get the game back on it’s feet. We need to get supporters back in, get the tills ringing again, and just get the atmosphere building at games again. This is a really important step for all of us. Add in that we’re going to the new stadium, I just think it will be a great experience, which I hope brings the best out of us.”
The game will be shown live on BT Sport 2with build-up coverage starting from 7:30pm.
CHIEFS SIDE TO FACE LONDON IRISH
15 Stuart Hogg
14 Alex Cuthbert
13 Henry Slade
12 Ollie Devoto
11 Tom O’Flaherty
10 Joe Simmonds (capt)
9 Jack Maunder
1 Ben Moon
2 Luke Cowan-Dickie
3 Harry Williams
4 Jannes Kirsten
5 Sean Lonsdale
6 Dave Ewers
7 Jacques Vermeulen
8 Sam Simmonds
16 Jack Yeandle
17 Alec Hepburn
18 Tomas Francis
19 Tom Price
20 Richard Capstick
21 Stu Townsend
22 Harvey Skinner
23 Ian Whitten