Team News: Baxter Names Side for Investec Champions Cup Opener

Rob Baxter has made six changes to his starting line-up for Chiefs’ Round One trip to Stade Felix Mayol to face RC Toulon on Saturday, December 9.

The Chiefs Director of Rugby makes four changes in his pack as an entirely different front row is named to start – Scott Sio at loosehead, Ehren Painter at tighthead with Dan Frost in the middle of the two at hooker.

Having been on the bench against Bath last weekend, Rusi Tuima rotates into the side to partner captain Dafydd Jenkins in the second row. The back row remains untouched with Jacques Vermeulen and Ethan Roots on the flanks and Greg Fisilau at eight.

The two changes in the backline come as Immanuel Feyi-Waboso returns to the matchday squad and Tom Cairns starts at scrum half with Stu Townsend moving to the bench.

Harvey Skinner at fly half, centre partners Joe Hawkins and Henry Slade and winger Ben Hammersley then complete the Chiefs’ backline.

Baxter has come into the preparation for this week with the view of ensuring his players learn from the experience and are not overcome with pressure to produce a result, though he acknowledges a key area of the game for Chiefs will be to put themselves in the best position possible to develop.

“For me, this is a great opportunity for the team to learn and gain a fantastic experience within a type of game that somewhere in the future we will have an expectation of winning. Right here and now, our expectation is to play well and what will be on the back of that will be.”

“I’m certainly not going to put too much pressure on the guys. I want them to go over there to enjoy the experience, enjoy playing well together and take everything out of the game that they can.”

“I’m not going to talk about this game as if it is a shot to nothing, because it’s not – it’s a very important part of the process of developing to where we want this team to go.”

“And so, our expectation is to go there and be absolutely flat-out physically and see where that takes us in the competitive side of the game. If there’s things that we then learn technically and tactically, then that’s great.”

“We’re not going there to throw the ball about, or smile and laugh in the sun – we’re there to play a serious game of rugby and take everything out of the game that we can. Hopefully that will be some points, but if not, then hopefully it will be some important experiences that we can learn from.”

On the bench Max Norey is accompanied by Nika Abuladze and Marcus Street to provide cover to the front row. Lewis Pearson covers the second row with Ross Vintcent returning to the matchday side to cover the back row. Stu Townsend, Rory O’Loughlin and Olly Woodburn then round out the bench for the backs.

Chiefs could have a number of Investec Champions Cup debuts on Saturday as Hammersley, Feyi-Waboso, Norey and Vintcent are all yet to have graced the elite European stage.

Exeter Chiefs:

15 Tommy Wyatt

14 Immanuel Feyi-Waboso

13 Henry Slade

12 Joe Hawkins

11 Ben Hammersley

10 Harvey Skinner

9 Tom Cairns

1 Scott Sio

2 Dan Frost

3 Ehren Painter

4 Rusi Tuima

5 Dafydd Jenkins (c)

6 Ethan Roots

7 Jacques Vermeulen

8 Greg Fisilau

Replacements:

16 Max Norey

17 Nika Abuladze

18 Marcus Street

19 Lewis Pearson

20 Ross Vintcent

21 Stu Townsend

22 Rory O’Loughlin

23 Olly Woodburn