Chiefs side to face London Irish
By Mark Stevens
17/3/23
Ricky Pellow insists his Exeter Chiefs side are ‘building nicely’ ahead of Sunday’s Premiership Rugby Cup final against London Irish at the GTech Community Stadium (2pm).
In what will be a fifth outing for the Chiefs in this competition, the visitors will head to the capital full of confidence as they look to bag the first silverware of the current campaign.
Having eased through the group stages with wins over Westcountry rivals Bristol Bears, Bath and Gloucester, they underlined their progress with an emphatic 46-3 success over Sale Sharks in the semi-final. Now, they will be looking to down the Exiles on their own patch in what should be a mouth-watering encounter.
“We’ve been building nicely throughout the week,” said skills coach Pellow. “We’ve trained well, the boys are looking good and emotionally we’ve been on point throughout the competition. I think there is a good balance to the squad, everyone is excited about the weekend, but we know London Irish are going to be tough and that we’re going to have to work hard to rip the game away from them.”
With the Chiefs again putting together a healthy blend of youth and experience for the fixture, Pellow believes Sunday’s showdown offers the perfect stage for a number of the club’s rising stars to go out and deliver a big performance.
“It’s a big day for everyone, myself included,” added Pellow. “For all of us, it’s an opportunity for us to go out and put our stamp on things. Ask every coach, every player, you want to be involved in the big games. This one obviously has the reward of a trophy at the end of it, but what has pleased me the most is the way this group have come together from the outset and just grown as a team.
“Over the years we’ve used this competition to develop young players, some of whom have gone on to win Premiership and European titles. Yes, some of them are moving on at the end of the season, but this is also a time for some of these younger players to step up. As a group we’ve talked about drawing on that emotion and the fact you may be playing with a game for the last time to really drive the club forward.
“Sunday is a winner-takes-all game, but you could probably say that about every game left this season. What we want to do is build momentum from this weekend that we can then take into the Bath game and beyond. We’ve got some huge games coming up, including Montpellier in Europe, and this is the start of it all. And the one thing I know about this group of players is that they will fight for each other to the end - and that’s a good base to move forward to the end of the season.”
Standing in the way of the Chiefs will be an Irish side, who not only topped the seedings following the qualification stages, but who also narrowly missed out on lifting the crown 12 months ago. On that occasion, Worcester Warriors took the trophy on tries scored after the two sides had finished 25-25 after extra time.
Pellow is aware of the threat they will pose - particularly on home turf - adding: “Like ourselves, they’ve been the form side in the competition., Obviously, they just edged us out on a home final by a single point, but they’ve got quality players throughout their side and they’ll be dangerous, both in attack and defence.
“What they’ll bring on Sunday we’re not quite sure of at this stage, but I know it will be one hell of a game. Conditions may change and play a part, but I think what you will see is two teams that really want to play and go out and attack the game from the off.”
As has been the case this season, hooker Jack Innard - who scored two tries the last time the Chiefs won the trophy in 2018 - leads the side into battle and he will be joined in the Exeter pack by Welsh international Christ Tshiunza, whose non selection for the final Six Nations game means he packs down at blindside flanker.
Youngsters Tom Cairns and Iwan Jenkins again get their chance to pull the strings at half-backs, while in the back division the Chiefs have decent firepower in attack with the likes of Rory O’Loughlin, Tom Hendrickson, Sean O’Brien, Manny Feyi-Waboso and Tom Wyatt, who was named man of the match in the semi-final win over Sale.
On the bench, there are also inclusions for Iestyn Harris and Ollie Devoto, both of whom have worked tirelessly to return to competitive action after long-term injuries.
