Chiefs side to face Bath
By Mark Stevens
1/4/22
Rob Baxter knows his Exeter Chiefs side can ill afford any more slip-ups in their quest to reach the Gallagher Premiership play-offs this season.
Defeat at home to table-topping Leicester Tigers last Sunday heaped further pressure on the Devonians who, with just four regular season games remaining, must now produce a near perfect set of results.
Even then, that may not be enough for the Chiefs to book their place in the top four. Such is the nature of the top flight this season, the play-off battle could go right down to the wire with every point accrued vital in the final shake-up.
“We are getting towards last chance saloon,” said Baxter earlier this week. “I kind of thought last week [against Leicester] was a must-win game for us, but now it’s very much like that as we head into these last few games.
“When you look around the table, every club has tough games still to go, but I don’t think we can afford to slip too many points if we want to be in that top four at the end of the season. Last week’s result means things have slipped a bit out of our hands, but who knows what the season will bring. There are four games left, still lots of points to play for, so we’ll just keep fighting until the end.”
Having trailed 19-0 to the Tigers at one point, the Chiefs rallied well during the second half to eventually secure a losing bonus point in a 22-17 defeat.
Baxter admitted he and his players were left frustrated in the wake of that loss and that conversations this week had been held in a bid to address certain issues that had arisen from that game.
“Nobody needs to tell us that we let ourselves down last week,” added Baxter. “That was nowhere near a frontline performance from us, yet we only lost by one score on the day. That’s kind of been the story of our season, where we have some very good parts to our game, but we also have others parts which are really hurting us.
“Some of the scores we conceded we’re just really soft. One of them is from a charged down kick which they recycle into pressure, another is from a speculative kick over the top that we seem to have covered with two men and it bounces away from them, and the other is a loose pass which is picked up and they break away and score.
“In all of those cases, they didn’t really break us or find a way of their own to hurt us, it was more we were the architects of our own downfall and that’s what is frustrating not just me, but the players themselves. A lot of what is happening is we are beating ourselves as much as the opposition are beating us.”
With Sunday’s setback now put to bed, the sole focus for the Chiefs is on tomorrow’s visit of Bath, a side who despite their lowly position in the standings, still possess a proven arsenal of talent that can attack any opposition side.
“If we play anywhere near our potential, then we have a great chance to get something from the game,” said Baxter. “If we don’t and Bath do, they will win the game. As I said, it’s not difficult from here on in. We are effectively in do-or-die territory, so hopefully that will bring the best out of us.
“You saw that fighting spirit in the second half of last week’s game, but it still didn’t bring the best out of us. If I’m being honest, now we have to start seeing the best of ourselves because the target is the top four and it’s up to the playing group to now go out there and grab it. That’s how I have left it with them.
“I said to them after the game, I can’t push a magic button on Tuesday when they come back in and it will win the next game for them. It’s up to them to show that fight and desire, where they look one another in the eye and decide how you are going to do it. Knowing them as I do, I do think we have a playing group who can do that, but that is going to be their challenge.”
Team news for the Chiefs sees Baxter welcome Jack Yeandle, Patrick Schickerling, Jannes Kirsten and Sam Skinner back into his pack of forwards. Both Yeandle and Schickerling were impressive off the bench against the Tigers, whilst Kirsten returns from suspension and Skinner is back having had a rest week following his recent exertions in the Six Nations Championship.
Behind the scrum, there are two changes in the back division where Tom Hendrickson is another who returns from suspension - and Scottish captain Stuart Hogg starts at full-back having sat out last weekend’s game.
England duo Henry Slade and Sam Simmonds both miss the game due to their mandatory rest break, whilst fellow internationals Luke Cowan-Dickie (knee) and Jack Nowell (arm) remain sidelined with injury.
