Shoey out to tame the Tigers

By Mark Stevens

Even by their own admission, Exeter Chiefs know they have yet to hit top gear in their pursuit of points from the Aviva Premiership this season.

That said, Rob Baxter's side have picked up two wins in their opening three games - against London Wasps and London Irish - and they are comfortably sitting mid-table ahead of Sunday's showdown with defending champions Leicester Tigers at Sandy Park (2pm).

And, according to experienced centre Jason Shoemark, the Devon club will happily take points over performance as they bid to inflict a second defeat of the season on their illustrious visitors.

However, a week ago at the Madejski Stadium, the Chiefs had to show their fighting spirit against Irish in the second half as they hit back from 23-12 down to eventually triumph 29-23.

Shoemark knows the Chiefs can ill afford not to be on top of their game against the star-studded East Midlanders and says he and his team-mates must bring their "A Game" to the party this weekend.

"It's massive," he said. "It's up to us to bring our A-game against them and hopefully get a result. We aren't really happy with the performances we're putting up yet, but sometimes you've got to win ugly and good teams do that.

"Last week we got the win with an OK performance, but obviously that's not going to be good enough this week, we have to improve a lot. It's within us, but we have to dig deep and put in a performance on Sunday."

Now into his fourth season in English rugby, the former Super Rugby star is well versed in the characteristics of the Exeter squad and admits the way the Chiefs hit back against the Exiles was no surprise.

"I think we've shown throughout our tenure in the top flight that we never give up, even if we're just looking for a losing bonus point," he said. "It's the character of the team, which is obviously great, but we don't want to be in those positions. We want to be out with a nice lead and looking for the big bonus points."

Ahead of kick-off the Chiefs have made just one change to their winning formula, welcoming back young No.8 Dave Ewers at the expense of try-scorer Ben White, who drops to the bench.

The Tigers, meanwhile, have also made a string of changes - one enforced through an injury to England and British Lions centre Manu Tuilagi - but they have also brought in fit-again duo Louis Deacon and Anthony Allen; whilst there are recalls for Tom Youngs, Dan Cole, Geoff Parling, Julian Salvi and Niall Morris.

It's a formidable challenge for the Chiefs, but Shoemark says tackling such talent is why he and his colleagues play the game.

He added: "Leicester are class, there's only one reason they've been at the top for so long. They've got class right along the paddock. The whole team is going to have to perform and if we don't we could be looking at being on the wrong end of a big score. We don't want to do that to our fans, we want to be able to go out and perform."

Shoemark was also quick to emphasise the importance of the Sandy Park roar in spurring them on against the Tigers, especially if the game is as tight as the previous few encounters against the East Midlanders.

"It's massively important [to hear the fans] but it's still up to us to keep the game interesting for them." he said. "If we let Leicester get away it takes the fans out of the equation, but if we're fighting for every point and it's close they just lift us. They push us over the try line to get those points, which is massive for us."

Remaining tickets for Sunday's game are still available online by clicking here