Rimmer seeks home comforts

By Mark Stevens

Carl Rimmer says it’s vital Exeter Chiefs turn their Sandy Park base into a “fortress” this season if they want to be amongst the Aviva Premiership’s frontrunners.

Already five rounds into the competition, the Devon club find themselves handily placed in fourth spot having accrued three victories already this season.

London Welsh, Gloucester and Harlequins have all been accounted for by Rob Baxter’s side already this term - but the picture could have been even brighter had the Chiefs secured wins over Leicester Tigers and Newcastle Falcons.

Last Sunday’s 29-24 reverse at the Falcons - their first win in 20 league games - threw a spanner in the works for the in-form Chiefs, who this Saturday will be looking to hit back at the first attempt when London Irish are the visitors to Sandy Park (3pm).

“Things have gone reasonably well and obviously we wanted to get a win at Newcastle last week,” explained the prop. “We beat Quins at home, which was a great victory, and we wanted to back that up and go away and ram those points home.

“As Rob says, though, we have to look at the bigger picture. We have picked up a good amount of points in this first block, which is great, but now with London Irish coming down this weekend we have a home game and we’ll be looking to get a positive result that we can hopefully take into Europe and the LV= block.

“For us it’s hugely important to finish this first block 4-2 in terms of victories rather than 3-3. At any time points add up, but if you can get them at the start of the year, that’s key as you don’t want to be scrapping for them later on. You have to make sure you have done the work and got the wins, especially at home. This place [Sandy Park] should be a fortress for us and there is no reason for it not to be.”

Rimmer knows Irish - who themselves having enjoyed a decent start to the new campaign - will be no pushovers and says it’s vital the Chiefs produce a big performance in front of their own supporters.

“They are strong for sure,” said Rimmer. “Things are starting to come together for them this year, unlike perhaps the last couple years which have been disappointing for them. We’ve watched them a lot this week and they look good in all areas.

“It’s tough to find some weaknesses, but they are still beatable and it’s vital we bring them down here and look to do the same.”