Chiefs side to face Quins
By Mark Stevens
12/3/21
With six of their remaining 10 fixtures in the regular season set to be played out on home soil, Rob Baxter says it’s imperative his Exeter Chiefs side make the most of their Sandy Park surroundings moving forward.
In what is the first of three home games in the next month, the stage is set for a mouth-watering encounter between the Chiefs and fellow high-flyers Harlequins in Round 13 of the Gallagher Premiership tomorrow (12:30pm).
Positioned in second spot, two points ahead of the Londoners, the Chiefs head into this clash high on confidence following a notable 38-16 victory over Westcountry rivals Bath last Saturday.
Despite going 13 points down in the opening quarter at the Recreation Ground, the defending champions regrouped impressively to run in six tries and keep the pressure on league leaders Bristol Bears, who themselves claimed a narrow victory away to Worcester Warriors.
Meanwhile, Harlequins – now under the leadership of Billy Millard – maintained their rich vein of form, defeating rivals Northampton Saints at the Twickenham Stoop last Sunday.
Baxter and his fellow coaches have spent much of this week studying that performance, as well as other recent displays from Quins, who are one of the Premiership’s in-form outfits, having collected four wins in their last five games.
Since seeing former Head of Rugby Paul Gustard depart in January, Harlequins have transformed inexplicably and Baxter has warned of the threat they pose to his own side, who won the corresponding fixture in Round One by a hefty scoreline of 33-3.
“You can see they have a different energy and enthusiasm about them – and that can sometimes be the difference between winning and losing games of rugby,” said the Chiefs’ Director of Rugby. “It’s not like they are playing a different game or with different structures to their play, they are just playing with a different energy and drive.
“You can see they are enjoying what they are doing and, as I have said many times before, any team that is playing like that makes them very dangerous. Once they are enjoying what they are doing, it gives them something to fight for. That’s often how I see us as a team, you see us at our best when we are enjoying what we are doing and we are aligned as one.
“For us, it’s another interesting challenge. In a way, it’s very similar to our last home game against Northampton, who came here with a decent bit of form behind them, they are going okay, and they threw everything at us, wanting to prove a point because they had not won here in a while. All the history was their motivation on the day and they did very well.
“What we have to do is make sure we have not only learned the lessons from that game, but equally show the same qualities, energy and enthusiasm that we showed for much of last weekend’s game at Bath.”
With Baxter shy of international trio Tomas Francis, Jonny Gray and Stuart Hogg, all of whom have returned to their Six Nations camps this week, he has been forced to tinker slightly with his starting line-up for tomorrow’s game.
Into the pack in place of Gray comes South African powerhouse Jannes Kirsten, while Hogg’s absence means Facundo Cordero is shunted from the wing to full-back with Wales and British Lions speedster Alex Cuthbert back having sat out the last three games.
The other changes to the starting line-up see starts for Stu Townsend – impressive off the bench against Bath – take the scrum-half berth with Tom Hendrickson given the nod over Ollie Devoto in the centre.
And it will be the 23 players selected who will be entrusted with keeping the Chiefs on track in terms of a top-two placing against Harlequins.
“It’s a big block of games coming up for us,” said Baxter. “It’s interesting, right now I’m not sure if we are playing better away from home. What is crucial, however, is that it will be our home form that will decide the season for us.
“We’ve got Harlequins and Leicester here back-to-back, we go to Gloucester, then we have Lyon here in Europe. After that, we could be at home again in Europe, so it’s important we start turning up at home. Looking at the calendar for the rest of the Premiership, it’s kind of flipped in our favour with six games at home and four away.
“As a club, it’s imperative we make that advantage of being at home count in our favour. The only way we can do that is by turning up, working hard for one another, and really going after games in a manner I know we can.”
You can watch tomorrow’s game live on BT Sport Extra 2HD with coverage starting at 12:30pm.
EXETER CHIEFS SIDE TO FACE HARLEQUINS
15 Facundo Cordero
14 Alex Cuthbert
13 Ian Whitten
12 Tom Hendrickson
11 Tom O’Flaherty
10 Joe Simmonds (capt)
9 Stu Townsend
1 Alec Hepburn
2 Jack Innard
3 Harry Williams
4 Jannes Kirsten
5 Sam Skinner
6 Dave Ewers
7 Jacques Vermeulen
8 Sam Simmonds
16 Elvis Taione
17 Ben Moon
18 Marcus Street
19 Sean Lonsdale
20 Richard Capstick
21 Sam Hidalgo-Clyne
22 Harvey Skinner
23 Ollie Devoto