Lewis is up and running

By Mark Stevens

Dave Lewis has spoken of his delight at getting his first run-out for the Exeter Chiefs following his summer move to Sandy Park.

Having been forced to sit out the club's 23-15 win at Scarlets in their opening pre-season fixture with a slight hamstring injury, the 24-year-old took to the field for Exeter's second outing against Championship outfit Bristol.

And the close season capture from Gloucester did not disappoint as he helped his new club to a comfortable 51-7 success against Andy Robinson's side.

"Obviously I'm very pleased to have got some game time and been part of what was a good team performance," he said. "I thought we played some very good rugby out there and it was definitely an improvement on last week [against the Scarlets]. Hopefully we can now carry this performance into next week against Glasgow Warriors."

In a dominant display throughout, the Premiership club simply had too much for Bristol as fly-half Henry Slade helped himself to 21 points, whilst there were also touchdowns for Ben White, Ian Whitten, Tom Johnson, Stuart Townsend, Fetu'u Vainikolo and Tom James.

Despite the nature of the win, scrum-half Lewis agreed with head coach Rob Baxter's post-match assessment that there is still more to come from the Chiefs ahead of the new campaign.

"Everybody will go away happy that we've put 50 points on the board, but it's not a perfect performance by any means," added Lewis. "In a way that's a good thing from our point of view as we know we can still improve even though we've beaten a decent side by 50 points."

Next up for the Chiefs is this Saturday's home date with Glasgow, before they travel to Northampton Saints on September 7 for their seasonal opener in the Aviva Premiership.

Lewis is aware that the Chiefs must continue to sharpen both their attack and defence ahead of that trip to Franklin's Gardens as he knows from past experience that English rugby's top flight is not to be taken for granted.

"There are no easy games in the Premiership," said Lewis. "Every week is a tough game, whoever you play, so we need to be ready for that first game."

Performances like Saturday will help in that quest, as will the intense battle for places within the Chiefs squad. It's a fact not lost on Lewis, who prior to his spell with Gloucester honed his skills at Ivybridge Community College.

"Competition is always good in any squad because it does bring out the best in people," said Lewis. "Here at the Chiefs I think we have it in every position, so that only drives the standards higher - and that in itself can only be a good thing for the team."