Dennis ready to roar in last four
By Mike Smith
20/5/19
Dave Dennis says he and his Exeter Chiefs team-mates must feed off another vociferous Sandy Park crowd as they look to book a fourth successive Gallagher Premiership Final place this weekend.
Rob Baxter’s side ensured they finished the regular season as top dogs once more, defeating Northampton Saints on Saturday with an impressive 40-21 victory that yielded six tries in the process.
Now, the two clubs will meet again - just seven days on - for the right to battle it out against either Gloucester or defending champions Saracens in the Final on Saturday, June 1.
Aussie international Dennis knows all about the big occasion, having helped the Chiefs to their maiden top-flight title in 2017 against Wasps at Twickenham.
He sat out last year’s reverse to Saracens due to injury, but he will be hoping to lead from the front against the Saints this weekend.
“I was fortunate to play in the final two years ago, which was a great feeling for a lot of us,” he said. “Last year I missed out, but we’ve got another great opportunity this time round, so hopefully we can get back there and give it a go again!
‘Having home advantage in the semi-finals is a big thing. This place will be packed out again and there will be plenty of energy around the ground, so it’s important we use that, we turn up with a positive mindset, and we put in a really energised performance.”
In what was a tight first half at Sandy Park on Saturday, the two sides turned round deadlocked at 21-21, it was the Devonians who upped the ante during the second period, scoring 19 unanswered points, including a try for Dennis himself.
“I don’t get too many tries, so it was nice to get one,” said the former Waratahs skipper. “I think it came from good pressure from us. We probably played that second half in the right parts of the field. We put them under pressure with our set-piece and off the back of that, we got some really good opportunities, which was really nice.”
Although comfortable come the final whistle, Dennis and the Chiefs know the Saints will pose another considerable threat to their hopes of advancing to the final - and that a performance on the same level, if not better, will be needed this time around.
Northampton - like they have on numerous occasions this season - flew out of the traps, scoring a try inside two minutes through England international Piers Francis. The Chiefs countered with a converted score of their own through Henry Slade, before Rory Hutchinson reclaimed the visitors lead.
Undeterred, the Chiefs continued to battle on and when Ben Moon rumbled over from close range, quickly followed by fellow forward Don Armand, it looked as though the home side were starting to gain the ascendancy.
With Courtney Lawes and Alex Waller in the sin-bin for the visitors, Baxter’s men looked poised to pounce once more on the stroke of half-time, but when a pass from Ollie Devoto was picked off by Cobus Reinach, the Saints scrum-half raced the length of the field to ensure parity at the turn.
Thankfully, the Chiefs rediscovered their rhythm during the second period and come the close they had added further tries through Matt Kvesic, Dennis and replacement Luke Cowan-Dickie without reply.
It was just the boost the Chiefs needed after a mixed month of results - and Dennis believes it should act as their launchpad for another crack at the Saints.
“Obviously, we’ve had a couple of weeks where we haven’t been at our best,” he said. “We started a little bit slow again today, but to fly back into the match and keep them scoreless in the second half, that was a really positive for us. When we look at it back, there will be some really good stuff to take into next week, as well as a few things that we know that we have to be better at.
“They’ve obviously got some good attacking threats out wide with [Dan] Biggar and Reinach liking to move the ball, but if we can sure that up, that will take a lot of their threats away.”