Braves side to face Saracens

By Mark Stevens
24/11/17

Ricky Pellow wants his Exeter Braves side to build on what has been a hugely encouraging start to their Aviva A League campaign.

Top of the pile after bagging a perfect four wins from four outings so far this season, the Braves will be looking to extend that winning sequence yet further when they tackle Saracens Storm at Allianz Park tomorrow (12:30pm).

Pellow will send another strong mix of youth and experience into battle at the North London venue which, ironically, will be hosting a clash between the respective first team squads just 24 hours later in the Aviva Premiership.

“It’s going to be good to be back in action in the A League,” said Pellow. “The weekend is going to be a bit different to normal, just because we find ourselves playing Saracens not just in the A League, but also the Premiership, but I think across the whole squad we’re looking forward to the two games.

“We’ve had a good start to the A League so far, but we know we can’t afford to switch off in any way on Saturday. A number of the guys have shown up well recently in the Anglo-Welsh Cup fixtures, but we’ve also got a number of others - the likes of Josh Caulfield and Tom Lawday, both of whom have been going very well down at the Cornish Pirates, who will be looking to show what they can do in an Exeter jersey.

“We’ve also got one or two younger players from the Academy and the Colleges, who I’ve no doubt will benefit hugely from being in and around the squad and working alongside some of the more senior players.

“As I said, we’ve built a strong foundation to the season so far, but we know from past experience that games against Saracens in the A League are never easy. Like ourselves, they’ve built a very strong squad who are capable of challenging in every competition they play. We know we’re going to have to go up there and not only match everything they throw at us, but also look to impose our own game on them.”

England international Jack Maunder will skipper the Braves into action and he will be joined in the ranks by a number of experienced players such as Carl Rimmer, Elvis Taione, Ollie Atkins, Dave Ewers and James Freeman.

Behind, University student Sam Morley gets another chance to impress at fly-half, while outside of him the Braves carry plenty of attacking threat in the form of Tom Hendrickson and winger Tom O’Flaherty.

BRAVES SIDE TO FACE SARACENS STORM

15 Sal M’Boge
14 Tom O’Flaherty
13 Harry Strong
12 Tom Hendrickson
11 Harrison Cully
10 Sam Morley
9 Jack Maunder (capt)
1 Carl Rimmer
2 Elvis Taione
3 Marcus Street
4 Ollie Atkins
5 Josh Caulfield
6 Dave Ewers
7 James Freeman
8 Tom Lawday

16 Dan Frost
17 James Kenny
18 Jack Owlett
19 Lewis Pearson
20 James McRae
21 Aaron Bagwell
22 Charlie Davis
23 AJ Cant