Yeandle bemoans missed opportunity

By Stuart James

Club captain Jack Yeandle felt that Exeter Chiefs missed an opportunity to make a statement of intent in their European Champions Cup group following their defeat to Ospreys last weekend.

The Devon side went down to a 25-13 loss at Swansea's Liberty Stadium and were far from their best against a side boosted by the return of several international stars.

The Chiefs, who welcome Bordeaux-Begles to Sandy Park on Saturday, had targeted that game as one they could win, especially if they are to progress from Pool Two. But, on a wet night in south Wales, too many unforced errors and a lack of discipline proved costly as they were put to the sword by a Dan Biggar-inspired Ospreys.

"If we had won, it would certainly have made things a lot easier pushing forwards," Yeandle said. "They brought back a wealth of experience with all their internationals and they stepped up with their performance levels.

"It is certainly a missed opportunity, but it has gone now and we have to focus on putting in a shift this weekend.

"We can't afford too many more slip-ups now – if any – so we have to focus on winning our home games and we will see what happens on the road.

"We've had a quiet reflection on what went wrong up at Ospreys and it is just a case of righting those wrongs and getting back to our style of play.

"We stepped away from it a little bit up there and started to do things that we don't tend to do in games, so hopefully we can get those bits right and fly into this weekend."

Yeandle felt the Chiefs paid the price for not sticking to their game-plan at Ospreys, and that has very much been the focus of their attention in training this week.

"There were a few bits within our structure of play. We went a bit off the cuff and forced some plays that we don't tend to do," the hooker added.

"We have a lot of trust and faith in our attacking structure and, if we buy into that completely, then we do tend to get the rewards.

"At the weekend, we just sort of forced extra things, extra offloads and extra passes that possibly weren't on. But if we can do our jobs and stick to the simple things, then we should come out with a result."

Chiefs welcome a Bordeaux side that have not played for two weeks, after their game against Clermont Auvergne last week was postponed in the week of the Paris terror attacks last Friday.

"They will be fresh as they haven't played, but they could be rusty because they haven't played. We will have to see," Yeandle added. "For us, it's about getting that poor performance out of the way. It's not how we play.

"It's an excitable thing to have a home game in the Champions Cup. We go on about how hard it is to get into it and how hard we had to work last season to get into it, and we want to show that genuine excitement of being in this competition.

"You can't get relegated in this competition and, because of the result last weekend, we really have to attack the competition. If we can go out there with our high energy levels, hopefully we can get a result."

The 25-year-old hooker has stopped short of calling Saturday's game a 'must-win' clash, but the reality is that, with pool favourites Clermont to come, Exeter cannot afford to lose if they are to realise their dreams of reaching the quarter-finals.

Yeandle said: "It's certainly important to win, but not a 'must-win'. Who is to say we can't turn over Clermont? That said, your home games are the important ones, especially in the Champions Cup, so, if you can collect points at home, then anything you get on the road can be a bonus."