Home sweet home for Lewis

By Howard Lloyd

Dave Lewis has called on his Exeter Chiefs team-mates to capitalise on their strong home record when Gloucester visit Sandy Park on Saturday (3pm).

The Chiefs have won all four of their home league games this term, as well as both European Champions Cup games played on their own turf.

Rob Baxter's men are now unbeaten in a little over a year in the league at the ground – a run which began after a one-point loss to the Cherry & Whites in January 2015.

And former Gloucester man Lewis says making Sandy Park a fortress is at the forefront of the players' minds.

"The motivating factor for us is to put in good home performance and hopefully the result will take care of itself," said Lewis, 26.

"We have banged in some great wins at home and it is hopefully becoming a tough place for other teams to come and play. The only way we can continue with that is by putting in good performances, not resting on our laurels and continue picking up wins."

Their fine home record is likely to face a stern test on Saturday though, as Lewis knows all too well.

Having spent six years at Kingsholm, the scrum-half has inside knowledge of some of the threats the visitors will have in their ranks at the weekend.

"It is always a weird one whenever we play Gloucester. I see some friendly faces in the opposition but it is more about the Chiefs now and doing my best for the team," he said.

"There has been a big turnover there though so a lot of the squad will be new to me, but Charlie Sharples and Tom Savage came through the academy so I'll definitely look out for those guys. Billy Burns stayed in my flat for a few years so I know him fairly well too.

"They have a lot of players who have that X-factor and can cause teams problems, but we are confident in what we can do and hopefully we can play well.

"I think they were the last side to beat us at home so we know they are a quality outfit and are in a rich vein of form at the moment."

Another important factor in Saturday's contest will be how the Chiefs react to their poor showing at Franklin's Gardens on New Year's Day.

Rob Baxter's men went down 8-3 to Northampton in a contest which saw them struggle to make any headway against determined opposition.

Even returning to Devon with an unexpected losing bonus point could not hide the disappointment following the performance, but Lewis says the players are desperate to bounce back.

He said: "We were disappointed coming in on Monday. The game didn't go as we wanted and I don't think we performed in the way that we wanted.

"We were disappointed in ourselves more than anything, so we're looking forward to putting it right this weekend.

"It is just one game though. We are still in a good position. Northampton are a great side."

"In other years we probably would have been happy with a losing bonus point, but having beaten some top sides recently, we were disappointed," he continued.

"A lot of teams go there and lose though so we need to look at the bigger picture and go into this weekend with a positive mindset."