Chudley keen for more of the same

Will Chudley says Exeter Chiefs can't afford to show the stars of Clermont Auvergne too much respect in Saturday's European Champions Cup showdown.

One of the heavyweights of world rugby, Clermont currently lead the Top 14 standings and were beaten finalists in last season's European Champions Cup after losing to Toulon.

Exeter head into the clash with Franck Azéma's glittering squad knowing that defeat at Sandy Park without so much as a bonus point would leave their European campaign in dire straits.

But Chudley, whose form at scrum-half has been an integral part of Exe's rise to second place in the Aviva Premiership, has urged his team-mates to stick to their tried and trusted formula against the French side which has served them so well so far this term.

"They are a huge club with some fantastic players, but we know when we are not on our game and it only happens when we worry too much about the opposition," said the 27-year-old.

"That is the key to our success this season – we know what we do well and we only need to concentrate on us.

"We have great respect for them and they have world class players, but we definitely won't be treating them any differently. We will just stick to what we do well and try and nullify their threats, but we won't change the way we play because of who they are."

Former Newcastle Falcon Chudley does have experience of taking on Les Jaunards, appearing off the bench in both of Exeter's pool stage matches against them in the 2012/13 season.

Clermont won both of those games, spoiling Exeter's Heineken Cup home debut with a 46-12 victory in October 2012 before a 46-3 success at their intimidating Stade Marcel Michelin home in January the following year.

Despite the results, Chudley says those matches still bring back special memories – and he called on his teammates to create new ones to remember this weekend.

"Both of those games were an awesome memory for all of us and the club in general, and I think we're all excited at the prospect of adding more amazing memories in the next couple of weeks," Chudley said.

"It is a pretty exciting thought to be playing one of the top clubs in Europe on your own patch in front of a full house.

"Hopefully they will create more memories, but with different results this time."

He continued: "I think it will be really interesting to see how far we have come. The last time we played them was great but a few years down the line now we are a more established club.

"We have probably set our sights and our targets a little bit higher. We'll go into it really thinking we can try and win it whereas before it was just great to be there."