Chiefs side to face Saints
By Mark Stevens
3/11/22
Back-to-back defeats in the Gallagher Premiership may have raised the pressure on Rob Baxter and his Exeter side, but the Chiefs Director of Rugby has called on his players to thrive in the heat of battle.
Tomorrow, the Devonians hit the road again, this time to Northampton Saints, for their Round Nine encounter at the Cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens (7:45pm).
Always a testing date on the seasonal calendar, Baxter is hoping some clear messaging in the wake of those losses, together with a strong week on the training paddock, will have the desired effect.
“The messaging this week has been pretty clear to the guys, which is we all need to work harder to be better,” said Baxter. “It’s a pretty simple message, but it’s one that we know works. Anyone who has watched us for some time will know we’ve played a similar structure for a long time. Yes, we’ve tweaked it in parts over the years, but it’s overall it’s been very good for us.
“When it works well, it’s like a well-oiled machine. Right now, we’re in the process of changing the odd thing here and there and changing from one Exeter Chiefs team to another Exeter Chiefs team. For that to happen, we have to be prepared to take a little bit of pain, but we also have to be prepared to work hard to be better.
“I can see that in this group of players. All of them are willing to work hard and be better for it. That’s the case every week and it will be the case on Friday night. Northampton away is a great place to go, it’s a great challenge for any side, and over the years we’ve had some good results up there.
“As I said, if we are willing to work hard, address some of the issues of the last week, then we give ourselves every chance. If we don’t step up, then they’ll be flinging the ball around, we’ll have people running at us from all angles, and we will have our backs to the wall.”
Against both Saracens and Gloucester, the Chiefs certainly did a lot of things right in their overall game plan. Baxter, though, says there are just elements of his side’s set-up which need tweaking.
“Last week [at Gloucester], it was a funny game in a lot of ways,” explained Baxter. “After the game there were a few players asking ‘what happened?’ – just because they felt like there was little pressure being put on them, yet points were being scored all over the place.
“For a lot of the game – and it was the same against Saracens – we were on the front foot, creating opportunities. The difference last week, though, was they took every opportunity, whereas we didn’t. We’ve spent a lot of time this week showing the players where they scored and where we didn’t in a similar situation.
“Both myself and Ali [Hepher] had a long chat after the game last week and we both agreed that what we have to keep reiterating to the players is that they need to get excited about their individual responsibilities within our shape and our systems of how we play. It’s something we have always thrived on, simply because players understanding their importance to the rest of the team is a key fundamental of any great team performance.”
Ahead of kick-off in the East Midlands, Baxter has been forced into change due to injuries and international call-ups. Missing through Test duty are the following: Luke Cowan-Dickie, Jack Nowell, Sam Simmonds and Henry Slade (all England), Jonny Gray and Stuart Hogg (both Scotland), Christ Tshiunza (Wales), Solomone Kata (Tonga) and Santiago Grondona (Argentina).
Whilst new additions to the injury list include Harvey Skinner, Richard Capstick and Stu Townsend, the latter two of whom have undergone shoulder surgery this week and are sidelined until the New Year.
Into the side for the Saints clash come Jack Dunne, Joe Simmonds and Dan John, whilst there is a welcome return on the bench for Welsh lock Daffyd Jenkins for the first time since injuring himself in the away game at Sale Sharks last month.
Jenkins is joined on the bench by highly-promising Exeter University back Will Becconsall, who has impressed in several outing for the Chiefs in the Premiership Rugby Cup and friendlies this season.
