Hooley aims to build on win

By Mark Stevens

Will Hooley says Exeter Chiefs will use the next fortnight to carefully fine tune their game plan ahead of the start of the new Aviva Premiership season.

Rob Baxter's side made it three wins from as many starts with Saturday's 31-33 victory over Gloucester in the Westcountry Challenge Cup, but it was a far from polished performance from the Devonians.

Fly-half Hooley landed a late penalty to ensure victory for his new club, whose ill-discipline throughout the course of the game was highlighted by head coach Baxter at the final whistle.

The Chiefs not only conceded over 20 penalties at the Memorial Stadium, but also had experienced forwards Damian Welch and Julian Salvi sent to the sin-bin by the officials for professional fouls.

Had it not been a pre-season friendly, Gloucester could easily have been out of sight had they opted to kick for goal, rather than opt for penalties to the corner and the chance of scoring from close-range line-out moves.

Thankfully, the Chiefs did well to repel a lot of Gloucester's attacking waves, but both Baxter and Hooley know such mistakes cannot continue moving forward.

“It is best to get these cobwebs out of the way now. We can get them done and dusted, work on them during the week and then come back firing,” said Hooley, who signed this summer from league rivals Northampton Saints.

“We are a little disappointed with our ill-discipline and sometimes our defence as well. We didn’t focus on putting low tackles in enough and I think we are all not at the standard we expected of ourselves.

That said, a mark of a good side is that they can still emerge from a poor display victorious and with Bath next on the agenda this weekend in the final Westcountry Challenge Cup game at the Recreation Ground, the 21-year-old playmaker is confident the Chiefs can up their game ahead of the big kick-off on October 17.

“I think it is always good to get a win away though and that was the main thing – getting a result away from home," added Hooley. “The first Premiership game is not for another two weeks, so there are no panic alarms. We still have plenty of positives and it was a win in the end.”

Hooley was used as a second half replacement by Baxter and having impressed on his debut against Gloucester last month at Sandy Park, the talented back again produced an accomplished display, delivering two telling penalties in the final ten minutes of the match.

“Kicking is part of my job so you have to just take the pressure and deal with it. I just got on with it and did it,” said Hooley, who was later indebted to club-mate Max Bodilly (pictured) for rescuing the Chiefs with a last-gasp tackle on Steve McColl in the dying stages.

“Max still had to produce a match-saving tackle right at the end. That saved my backside because I missed that guy. As I said, though, there are plenty of other people to congratulate in that final stage too. It was a bit nervy at the end but we managed to sneak it home which was ultimately a big relief on our part.”