Hill to combat Sharks attack

Exeter Chiefs centre Sam Hill is fully focused on climbing the Premiership table ahead of his side’s clash with Sale Sharks today (3pm).

The Devon club are seventh in the standings with three games left to play this season. Maintaining their current position would see them contest a play-off for a place in next season’s European Champions Cup.

However, Hill is looking at this weekend’s opponents Sale in sixth, who are now 11 points ahead of the Chiefs.

That number could be reduced to four with a bonus-point victory tomorrow. He said: “We’re down to the last three games of the season now.

“It is a massive game for us, if we want to qualify for Europe next season. It is clearly the competition to be in, playing against the best teams and players in the world. It is a massive incentive for the boys.

“Sale have got really good strong centres and a solid pack of forwards, and they have been playing well for the past few months. We are expecting a good, tough game.”

Chiefs host the Sharks with confidence high after last weekend’s 38-33 win over Worcester Warriors at Sixways. Hill said: “Sale’s confidence will be high but ours is fairly high as well after a five-point win last week.

“It was good win at Sixways. Obviously, Worcester are bottom of the table, but they put in a really good performance. The last few minutes were quite nerve-wracking but we were happy to get the five points, which is what we needed.”

Hill, who scored his first Premiership try last weekend, believes discipline will be important this weekend.

Head coach Rob Baxter has warned his men about conceding too many penalties.

“Rob has said this week will be a different story if we give away the same number of penalties as we did last week,” said Hill. “It is a massive thing that we’re focusing on this week.”

Thinking back to his touchdown at Sixways, he added: “Obviously, it was awesome to get my first try last week, but Gareth Steenson did all the hard work and put me over in the corner.

“I’ve loved this year and didn’t expect to play as much as I have. I feel refreshed for the last few games. We are taking the gamesone at a time. We’ll only look ahead after we’ve done the job on Sale.”