Chiefs side to face Saracens
By Mark Stevens
3/12/21
It’s been over a year since Exeter Chiefs and Saracens last locked horns, but excitement is clearly building ahead of tomorrow’s Gallagher Premiership reunion at Sandy Park (3pm).
For years two of English rugby’s heavyweight clubs have traded blows – on and off the field – in some epic encounters.
Whether it’s been here in Devon or further afield in the nation’s capital, when these two prized fighters come together, it often tends to be a brutal and physical match-up, where only the strongest prevail.
Expect more of the same tomorrow as the Chiefs look to not only build on their victory at Bath last weekend, but at the same time inflict some woe on the Londoners, who have returned to the top-flight in impressive style following their year’s hiatus in the Championship.
“It has all the ingredients of being something special,” said Chiefs’ Director of Rugby, Rob Baxter, this week. “It’s our last Premiership game before Christmas, the weather looks okay, the pitch is fine, so there’s no reason not to have a fantastic day.
“What we have to do as a side is make sure we play with enough emotion, drive and energy that not only makes us competitive and hard to beat, but also gives our fans something really to get behind.
“As everyone knows, it’s a big fixture for both sides, but equally we have to leave what’s happened in the past behind us and look to move on. Like ourselves, Saracens want to be competing in and around that top end, winning Premierships, so we’ve got to relish occasions like this, enjoy playing in these big fixtures, and get our heads fully around playing in these pressure scenarios.”
That’s just what the Chiefs did last week against Bath – and Baxter is hopeful his players will be able to follow suit in this latest match-up.
“I was really pleased with the Bath performance and I told the guys that afterwards,” added Baxter. “There were moments in that game where we came under pressure, but we hung in there, worked hard for one another, and got our rewards for that towards the end of the game.
“Like always, there were things we saw that we could have been better at – and we’ve talked a little bit about that this week – but overall a lot of what we did in that game was very good. As everyone saw, we put our game on them, our scrum grew in dominance and we found that way to come through as we did.
“We know as a team that we’re not quite where we want to be, but we’re hanging in there, we’re working hard through those tough periods and now we have to go enjoy these next few games.”
With Sandy Park set for it’s first full house since the pandemic started, Baxter’s plans have been bolstered by the return of three international stars for the visit of Saracens.
All of them come in the pack where England and British Lions duo Luke Cowan-Dickie and Jonny Hill return for the first time in weeks, whilst Scottish forward Jonny Gray is set to make his first start of the season after recovering from shoulder surgery in the summer.
Behind the scrum, Joe Simmonds is recalled at fly-half in the only change to the back line from that which took to the field at The Rec.
