Chiefs side to face Tigers
By Mark Stevens
19/3/21
Exeter Chiefs will be looking to continue their pursuit of Bristol Bears at the top of the Gallagher Premiership this weekend when they play host to Leicester Tigers in Round 14 at Sandy Park tomorrow (2:30pm).
Fresh from a hard-fought victory over Harlequins last time out, Chiefs’ Director of Rugby Rob Baxter is looking for more of the same from his side against a Tigers outfit, who claimed their first Premiership away win in almost two years with a 20-14 success at Gloucester.
For a second successive week, the defending champions had to overturn a 13-point deficit before securing what Baxter himself described as a ‘fantastically valuable’ four points.
“Our problem is not so much can we win the second 40, it’s more how to make sure we don’t lose in the first 40,” said Baxter this week. “At the moment, we are creating pressure scenarios in the first half that we can certainly deal with better. Some of the things we are doing we can easily eradicate from our game and if we improve our error count, even by 20 or 30%, the game could be much different.
“That said, I can’t fault the resolve and the fighting spirit of our lads. When I looked at the game afterwards, I can’t remember which way round it was, but we had territory and possession stats that were 75 and 65%, that’s big stats!
“What they showed to me was that we have a team who are prepared to work very hard to breakdown the opposition and who want to scores tries to win a game of rugby. Of course, we didn’t make it easy for ourselves, but we showed we were willing to work incredibly hard to secure four fantastically valuable points against the team who are third in the roster.”
As Baxter rightly eludes, the Tigers – themselves brimming with confidence after recent results – will pose a creditable threat in this latest outing, where they will be bidding to end a six-game losing streak to the Chiefs.
The Devonians won 35-13 at Welford Road in the corresponding fixture back in early December, whilst Leicester’s last trip to Sandy Park back in August of last year – the first game back after rugby restarted – saw the Chiefs prosper 26-13.
That August fixture was the first game in charge for Tigers coach Steve Borthwick, who in the months that have preceded that clash, has undergone quite a transformation in personnel and style for the East Midlanders.
“I think what you have seen since that game is a change in the squad, a fair direction in the way they are heading, and a team who are starting to gain results,” said Baxter. “Going to Gloucester and winning last time out – in what was a tough game and a tough environment – was a big result for them, so they are starting to gain that little bit of momentum.
“It’s funny, at the moment we seem to be coming up against teams with a bit of momentum behind them and who want to throw everything at us. In a lot of ways, that’s great for us. We are probably in that furnace of competitive rugby each week, which I hope turns us into steel. We’re getting challenged every week, but most of the time we’re coming up with the answers we need.
“I’ve no doubt we will be challenged again this weekend by a Leicester side who will see this as a great opportunity themselves to step up where they want to be. They are not going to be backward in wanting to come an established Premiership-winning team again, because that is in their DNA, I just don’t want us to be a stepping stone for them to do that.”
With Baxter still shy of his international stars on Six Nations duty, his back division selection has been further hampered with ankle injuries to Ian Whitten and Tom Hendrickson, as well as further hamstring concerns over winger Alex Cuthbert.
It means the Chiefs have been forced into change for tomorrow’s fixture, welcoming Ollie Devoto and Harvey Skinner into a new-look midfield, whilst new Dad, Olly Woodburn, fills the void left by Cuthbert on the right wing.
Other changes see Jack Maunder given the nod at scrum-half in place of Stu Townsend; Ben Moon – impressive off the bench in the last two games – starts at loosehead with Alec Hepburn dropping down to the bench; and Sean Lonsdale comes into the second-row with Sam Skinner have been called up by Scotland for their clash with Italy at BT Murrayfield.
On the bench, there are recalls to the match-day squad for Don Armand and Josh Hodge, as well as first-ever involvement for Academy youngster Dan John.
Tomorrow’s game will be shown live on BT Sport Extra 1HD from 2:30pm.
EXETER CHIEFS SIDE TO FACE LEICESTER TIGERS
15 Facundo Cordero
14 Olly Woodburn
13 Harvey Skinner
12 Ollie Devoto
11 Tom O’Flaherty
10 Joe Simmonds (capt)
9 Jack Maunder
1 Ben Moon
2 Jack Innard
3 Harry Williams
4 Jannes Kirsten
5 Sean Lonsdale
6 Dave Ewers
7 Jacques Vermeulen
8 Sam Simmonds
16 Elvis Taione
17 Alec Hepburn
18 Marcus Street
19 Don Armand
20 Richard Capstick
21 Sam Hidalgo-Clyne
22 Dan John
23 Josh Hodge