Team News: Chiefs Name Quarter-Final Side

Exeter Chiefs take on Sale Sharks in the Premiership Rugby Cup quarter-final at Sandy Park this weekend as Rob Baxter’s men fight for knockout progression.

Chiefs fell to defeat against Gloucester in the final pool match two weeks ago while Sale secured their playoff berth with a narrow 19-17 win over Newcastle Falcons in Manchester.

For today’s encounter, Jack Yeandle captains the side as the hooker runs out for his 300th all-time club appearance in front of his home crowd. He is joined in the front row by Scott Sio at loosehead and Josh Iosefa-Scott at tighthead.

An all international second row of Wales’ Dafydd Jenkins and Christ Tshiunza are backed up by a back row of Ethan Roots, Jacques Vermeulen and Greg Fisilau.

Stu Townsend brings experience to the half-back duo as the scrum half is joined by Ben Coen making his first competitive Chiefs appearance at fly-half. The young EURFC player returns from England U20s duty to make his debut.

Joe Hawkins and Tamati Tua are named at inside and outside centre. Tommy Wyatt remains a constant at full-back with Josh Hodge moving to the wing to come into the starting line-up alongside Paul Brown-Bampoe.

Director of Rugby Rob Baxter knows this is a pivotal weekend in a tough weekend for his young squad.

“This knockout match is very important for us. There are some good sides left in this competition – Sale being one of them. They’re doing well in the Premiership, and they’ll likely come here with an expectation to win.

“We’re going to have to enjoy being a team that goes out on the hunt. I think we’ve probably fallen into the trap of playing as if we’re the hunted team and if opposition knock us off our stride, then we look like we struggle to get back on track.

“The reality is we should be going out there desperate to win games, no different to how we were when we first came into the Premiership where every victory was incredible and was worked incredibly hard for.

“We need to win this game because we need to keep moving forward as a team.”

On the bench, Dan Frost forms the replacement front row with Kwenzo Blose and Marcus Street. Franco Molina and Richard Capstick provide cover for the back five of the scrum.

Tom Cairns and Will Haydon-Wood are the replacement scrum half and fly half with Will Rigg the third back completing the 5-3 split.

Exeter Chiefs:

15 Tommy Wyatt

14 Paul Brown-Bampoe

13 Joe Hawkins

12 Tamati Tua

11 Josh Hodge

10 Ben Coen

9 Stu Townsend

1 Scott Sio

2 Jack Yeandle (c)

3 Josh Iosefa-Scott

4 Dafydd Jenkins

5 Christ Tshiunza

6 Ethan Roots

7 Jacques Vermeulen

8 Greg Fisilau

Replacements:

16 Dan Frost

17 Kwenzo Blose

18 Marcus Street

19 Franco Molina

20 Richard Capstick

21 Tom Cairns

22 Will Haydon-Wood

23 Will Rigg