Chiefs side to face Sale Sharks
By Mark Stevens
30/9/22
Supporters knew they would be seeing a different Exeter Chiefs outfit this term and - true to their word - Rob Baxter’s side are certainly delivering after an unbeaten start to the new Gallagher Premiership season.
Having downed defending champions Leicester Tigers on the opening day, the Devonians have since picked up victories over Worcester Warriors and Harlequins to put themselves level on 14 points with Bristol Bears at the summit of the table.
Tomorrow, the Chiefs face arguably one of the toughest away-days in the division when they come up against Sale Sharks - themselves unbeaten this season - at the Salford Stadium (3pm).
It promises to be a mouth-watering, yet physical, showdown between two of the Premiership’s early frontrunners.
Buoyed by their last-gasp success over Harlequins last time out, the Chiefs head to the North West in buoyant mood and desperate to maintain their winning formula against a Sharks side, which will include the former Exeter trio of Jonny Hill, Sam Hill and Tom O’Flaherty.
“It’s always one of our toughest games, but it one I know the guys really look forward to playing in,” said Baxter. “I think over the years we’ve produced some of our best performances up there, simply because we know you have to do that if you want to come away from Sale with anything.
“This weekend is going to be a much different test to the last few weeks. It’s going to be tough, it’s going to be physical, plus we’re running into some former guys in Hilly and Flats. Like ourselves, they’ve had a good start to the season and no doubt they’ll want to continue that again this weekend.”
However, the Chiefs have proved already this season that they are unwilling to surrender easily, a point underlined in their late victories over the Tigers and, more recently, Harlequins.
Christ Tshiunza’s score deep into added on time ensured the Chiefs of a 43-42 success a week ago. However, the scoreline was much closer than many believed it would have been, especially with the hosts 31-7 up at the turn.
“There are still some things defensively that we are bedding in,” explained Baxter. “One of two things we need a bit of clarity on still, but we’ve chatted about it and we’ve walked things through and I’ve no doubt those areas will improve.
“Equally, we’ve also reinforced into the lads the importance of being more disciplined with sticking to the game plan. People will see us last weekend and how we went about things in that first half. Where we were good was that we didn’t give up ball and we stuck to task.
“If you look at how we started the second half, we got in similar positions again, but the difference was we started to mess around a bit. We went away from what we were doing well in that first half and we got turned over. That in turn led to Harlequins having that period of success and points came from it. In a lot of ways we became sloppy in our execution and that’s what we’ve talked about this week.”
Certainly the Chiefs know they will need to be on the top of their game against a star-studded Sharks, who themselves have picked up victories over Northampton Saints and Bath so far this season.
“They’ve been playing well and to me they look a good side,” warned Exeter’s Director of Rugby. “They are a side who are prepared to work hard; they’re organised and they play some good rugby. What we have to do is combat those threats, whilst at the same time going out and imposing our own game on them. We’ve done it in the past up there and I’m hopeful we do it again this weekend.”
Team news for the visitors see the Chiefs make a handful of changes to their pack. Into the side come Jack Dunne, Dafydd Jenkins, Jannes Kirsten, Jacques Vermeulen and Sam Simmonds, the latter of whom has confirmed he will be moving to Montpellier at the end of the season.
Whilst in the back division, there are two further changes with Rory O’Loughlin coming in on the right wing for Jack Nowell, whilst Stuart Hogg gets his first start of the season at full-back, replacing Joe Simmonds who drops down to the replacements’ bench.
Other changes in personnel on the bench see Josh Iosefa-Scott and Solomone Kata rewarded for impressive showings against Bristol in the Premiership Rugby Cup in midweek.
