TJ targets response at Bath

By Mark Stevens

Tom Johnson believes Exeter Chiefs have what it takes to become a top four side in the Aviva Premiership, but believes the time has come for the club to underline their credentials at the top end of the table.

Having experienced defeats to Northampton Saints and Leicester Tigers earlier in the season, Devon's finest were narrowly undone last Saturday by table-topping Saracens 16-9 - a result which saw them slip down a place to fifth in the top flight standings after eight rounds.

Next up for Rob Baxter's side is this weekend's visit to rivals Bath, who themselves are flying high in third after they picked up a sixth league win of the season last time out when they won 28-5 at London Wasps.

England star Johnson knows the Chiefs are desperate to bounce back at the first attempt, but is well aware overcoming Bath - who the Chiefs have failed to beat since their promotion into the Premiership in 2010 - will be no formality.

"Our record is not great against Bath," Johnson admitted, with the Chiefs' last victory against their Westcountry rivals coming in 1978. "They beat us well in the LV= Cup recently and their tails will be high, so we need to regroup and really go to The Rec and put our game on them."

Certainly the Chiefs showed last weekend that they are more than capable of competing with the division's very best - and had it not been for two tight TMO calls going against them - they could easily have claimed more than just the losing bonus point they accrued.

Afterwards, Johnson - who along with club-mate Ian Whitten was denied a try in that game - expressed the disappointment within the home game, but he wasted little time in talking up the positives to stem from Exeter's strong display on home soil.

"We've been proving for a couple of years now that we can compete with anyone in the league," said the 31-year-old. "We've got to make sure we can get results. It's an improvement on the last couple of times we've played a top-four side, so there were lots of positives to take from Saturday's game."

Johnson himself was at the centre of some late drama at Sandy Park as Exeter's supporters felt he had crossed the line with a charge for the line. However, with referee Tim Wigglesworth unsure if he could award a try or not, television match official David Sainsbury decided the footage was not conclusive enough to be able to say the former Coventry player had dotted down over the whitewash.

The Chiefs ace himself played down the controversy, insisting he was unsure himself if he had scored a legitimate try or not.

"I don't know to be honest," he said. "I was not 100 per cent confident. I knew I was short when I went over. I didn't think I was going to quite get there, but I realised when I was going down that the line was in sight. I was not sure if I had gone over with momentum, but I know I was short when I landed."

As for the defeat against Saracens, Johnson felt it showed how ruthless the Chiefs have to be if they want to finish in the top four at the end of the campaign and make the Premiership semi-finals.

"We probably gave ourselves too much to do in the second half, but fair play to the boys, they went at it," he said. "We left it all out there which is all you can ask for against top-four teams.

"A couple of times we were just inches from the line, and had we forced one of those over it could have been a different result. That's a lesson we have to learn if we want to compete for that place in the top four."