Chiefs side to face Northampton Saints
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By Mark Stevens
6/1/23
Exeter Chiefs Director of Rugby Rob Baxter has underlined the importance of the next six weeks for his side, describing the period as ‘season-defining’.
Tomorrow, the Chiefs welcome Northampton Saints for the first of four home games in five weeks. It is - according to Baxter - a pivotal period in the season for the Devonians, who will be looking to bounce back from their 35-3 humbling at league leaders Saracens.
Having spent a few hours watching the ‘video nasty’ of a week ago at the StoneX Stadium, Baxter and his fellow coaches have quickly looked to draw a line under that performance, instead focusing their thoughts solely on the visit of the Saints.
With the Chiefs currently sat in seventh spot after 11 games, this upcoming run of home fixtures could act as the springboard for them to catapult themselves into the play-off picture in the Premiership, as well as advancing into the latter stages of the Heineken Champions Cup.
“We’ve talked this week about the Saracens game and what our issues were from that game,” said Baxter.“All I said to the lads was ‘what do you think the lessons are?’
“There was a bit of toing and froing, but I said ‘come on’. The biggest lesson you learn from playing Saracens is how to perform as a team. Irrespective of the guys you have on the field, you should always be a force multiplier. Your 15 should always perform better than the individuals should really allow - that’s what makes a really good team!
“I thought Saracens had both. They didn’t have too many issues going into the game and then they played very well as a team. We were a bit the other way around, we had some enforced changes, some of them quite late, and then we didn’t play well as a team.
“Some of the issues we had around the scrum and the set-piece, that was just that eight-man machine not locking together and inter-linking as it should be. Heading towards half time, I thought with the score like it was and the level of wind, Saracens were going to find it tough in that second half.
“But then we lost momentum either side of half time, conceding a soft try in the first half, then two penalties early in the second half, after which it was an uphill battle for us. As we’ve said, there are lessons to be learnt, especially for those younger players who have to learn very quickly, but it will set them up for the future.
“Looking at the squad, when we have most of the guys fit and available, we should be challenging for the top four.We have to keep saying that because that’s the truth. We do have to keep learning, we do have to keep challenging ourselves and we do have to be ambitious and get good things out of this season. That has to start now, not in six weeks’ time, post Six Nations, it has to start now.
“The now is now - it’s these next six weeks. A huge part of our season is wrapped up in this period. We can stand up and be responsible for it - or we can hope it’s okay in five or six weeks. The reality is it won’t, so we need to stand up now.”
Standing in the way of the Chiefs this weekend will be a Saints side, who have already defeated their hosts in the corresponding fixture 26-19 back in November - and who overcame Harlequins last weekend 46-17 to move into fifth spot in the Premiership standings.
“Northampton will be feeling good about themselves,” warned Baxter. “They’ve won the last two times they’ve come here, so it’s important we change the narrative on that front. We need to flip that on its head and change what it feels like for them to come to Sandy Park and lose. We did it for a fair few years previously and now we have to re-establish that.”
The Chiefs will come into the game buoyed by the fact that they are able to welcome back a number of leading lights for the clash. Luke Cowan-Dickie - who will also skipper the side - heads up the list of returnees, which also includes Dafydd Jenkins, Jack Dunne, Dave Ewers and Sam Simmonds in the pack.
Behind the scrum, the hosts will be unchanged from the Saracens game, whilst on the bench there are also returns for James Kenny, Jack Maunder and Harvey Skinner, the latter two having been sidelined for a number of weeks with injuries.
