Chiefs side to face Falcons
By Mark Stevens
20/9/18
Rob Baxter says it's imperative his Exeter Chiefs side continue to keep 'moving forward' despite producing the perfect start to the new Gallagher Premiership season.
Tomorrow night the table-toppers head to the North East, where Newcastle Falcons lie in wait for them at Kingston Park (7:45pm).
The two clubs enjoyed four meetings last season, the Chiefs winning three of those including the all-important Premiership semi-final clash at Sandy Park in May. Exeter's one blemish against Dean Richards' men, however, was the Premiership away trip at the start of the year where the Falcons downed the Devonians 28-20.
Baxter knows from past experiences that a 'trip to the Toon' is no formality and he has warned his team to prepare for battle against one of the division's most physical opponents.
"We're very much aware Newcastle were a top four side last season, so it's going to be a stiff challenge for us," said Baxter. "But that kind of what you should expect from a Premiership game. They should be stiff challenges.
"That said, we've prepared well this week, we've got a group going up there, so it will ultimately come down to who wants it most and who is prepare to commit the most energy to the game. Hopefully, that will be us, but Newcastle will be thinking the same, so we have to be ready from the outset."
Certainly the Falcons will come into the game with renewed confidence after they claimed their first win of the season with victory at Worcester Warriors last Saturday. At the same time, the Chiefs were notching up their third successive win, seeing off visiting Sale Sharks at Sandy Park.
Baxter made nine changes to his starting XV for that game, two of which came on the eve of kick-off when Matt Kvesic and Sam Simmonds were ruled out through sickness. It meant Sean Lonsdale and Tom Lawday were handed their first-ever Premiership starts, but impressed in a powerful display that yielded a 35-18 victory.
"Sale are a decent side and they played well on the day," added Baxter. "They threw a lot into the game physically and half time there wasn't a lot in it. However, we came through well in the second half and came through what was another good test of character for us.
"Were we faultess? No. We're there things for us to work on? Yes. But that's OK at this time of year as long as you are collecting points. Right now we're managing to do that, so we just have to keep moving forward and face every challenge as well as we can."
That next challenge is the Falcons, who Baxter has warned will take a fair amount of breaking down.
"It's too simplistic to just say they have threats all over the pitch," he said. "They have two wingers [Niki Goneva and Sinoti Sinoti] who have been devastating now for a couple of years and who are both capable of breaking tackles. Both of them have played well against us in the past, so we have to be aware of them.
"Equally, they have a strong back-row who like to disrupt the opposition at the breakdown, they have an effective line-out and scrum, and they generally look very comfortable in how they play. That they have driven home now for a while and it was emphasised last season by them reaching the last four.
"Watching them in the build-up to this game, I kind of getting the feeling that quite like playing the so-called frontline teams up at their place, so we have to expect a strong, physical challenge, especially across the first half of the game."
Ahead of kick-off, the Chiefs have again made tweaks to their line-up. Both Kvesic and Simmonds return to the starting line-up having missed out last week, Ian Whitten gets the nod over Ollie Devoto in the centre, while summer signing Alex Cuthbert gets his first start on the wing with Jack Nowell not risked on the 4G surface.
On the bench, there are welcome returns also for powerhouse forwards Dave Ewers and the fit-again Sam Hill.
CHIEFS SIDE TO FACE NEWCASTLE FALCONS
15 Phil Dollman
14 Santiago Cordero
13 Henry Slade
12 Ian Whitten
11 Alex Cuthbert
10 Joe Simmonds
9 Jack Maunder
1 Ben Moon
2 Luke Cowan-Dickie
3 Harry Williams
4 Ollie Atkins
5 Jonny Hill
6 Don Armand (capt)
7 Matt Kvesic
8 Sam Simmonds
16 Jack Yeandle
17 Alec Hepburn
18 Tomas Francis
19 Dave Dennis
20 Dave Ewers
21 Sam Maunder
22 Gareth Steenson
23 Sam Hill