Chiefs side to face Castres
By Mark Stevens
9/12/22
Rob Baxter has challenged his Exeter Chiefs side to go and ‘make a stand’ when they face French Top 14 side, Castres Olympique, in their opening Heineken Champions Cup clash tomorrow.
In the first of four Pool games, Baxter is hoping his side can get their campaign off to the perfect start with a big performance at the Stade Pierre Fabre (9pm CET).
“I don’t think we ask for anything better, I’m really excited about it,” said a buoyant Baxter this week. “I think we need something that is really going to challenge us. I say this all the time, you create steel by putting it through a furnace. We need one those games where everyone stops and says ‘this is going to be different.’
“We’re going away to France, Saturday night kick-off, it’s a great place to go and play rugby, but let’s look at one another and decide we need to make a stand. That’s the perfect thing to talk to a group of players about. We have to make a stand, show people what we are all about and see where we are after this weekend.
“The internationals are back now, we’ve got the strongest squad we’ve been able to pick from, barring the injuries we have and the niggles we’ve picked up that will keep a couple of guys out. However, if we go over there and win first up, then it blows the group wide open for us. Winning that first game, it puts everything in your hands and that is what we have to challenge ourselves to do.”
Certainly, the Chiefs have no fear of travelling across the Channel in pursuit of glory. Indeed, the club coaches have spent this past week rekindling past triumphs by Exeter teams in a number of the pre-game meetings and hopes are high that Devon’s finest can produce another magic moment.
“You only have to go back a couple of years, the performance we put in at La Rochelle set the tone for our European campaign which, as everyone knows, ended in us winning the competition,” added Baxter. “That was a fantastic performance, but we’ve had many others incredible moments in France.
“Haydn Thomas, Gareth Steenson and Nic Sestaret all played in that first-ever European game in Bourgoin. A lot of the coaches are still here and we remember that night vividly. That was a fantastic trip and we still talk about it now and that’s 12 years ago. We went over there not knowing what to expect, yet we won a tough game of rugby and we had a great time afterwards.
“As a group, you never forget moments like that. Now we want to create more of those and have that vibe about the place that can really drive you forward within the competition.”
Standing in the way of the Chiefs, however, will be a Castres side, who last season finished runners-up to Montpellier in France’s Top14.
“They are a good side in all areas,” warned Baxter. “They are a big, physical French team, but we’ve dealt with that before, when we have been good in all areas ourselves. What we have to have is that real understanding that over the 80 minutes we must be willing to work for everything. We won’t go with anything too complicated, we will just keep it simple, direct and with speed.”
And part of that grand plan will be ensuring that the Chiefs fire form the outset, particularly the first 20 minutes which Baxter believes will set the tone for the contest.
“The one thing with Europe is there is a level of messiness to games,” he said. “They are not as tidy as Premiership games. The key, however, is what you throw into it, both physically and emotionally, and see where you are after 20 minutes. If we get it right, that will be because we are in a bit of a war and doing what we need to do. If we don’t, that’s where we’ll get into trouble.”
The Chiefs head into the game buoyed by the return of a number of international stars following the completion of the Autumn Nations Series. Stuart Hogg, Jack Nowell and Henry Slade all return in the back division, while up front Sam Simmonds also returns to the fold.
Aussie prop Scott Sio is poised for his first taste of Champions Cup action starting at loosehead, while on the bench Academy youngster Will Becconsall has been rewarded for some notable displays in the Premiership Rugby Cup with his first-ever European call-up.
