Chiefs side to face Worcester
By Mark Stevens
1/11/19
Ali Hepher is confident he will see a response from his Exeter Chiefs side when they tackle rivals Worcester Warriors in Sunday’s Gallagher Premiership clash at Sixways (3pm).
Having kicked their campaign off with victory over Harlequins, Devon’s finest were undone a week later when they were narrowly defeated 13-10 by Westcountry rivals Bath at The Rec.
Although the Chiefs did a lot of good things in that contest, ill-discipline at crucial times came back to bite them and it was Rhys Priestland’s second half penalty that proved the ultimate difference between the two sides on the night.
Director of Rugby, Rob Baxter, and head coach Hepher acknowledged that the high penalty count was what had hampered their sides hopes - and they’ve used this past week to drill home the message that a similar kind of showing can not be repeated against the Midlanders.
“We reviewed the Bath game, as we do always, and when we watched it back we got a lot of things right,” admitted Hepher. “That was the key thing, a lot of what we did - particularly in the first half - was very good, so let’s not negate the things we got right. However, there were some clear areas for us to work on.
“We know that game could have been very different had we banged a drive into the corner and we go 14-3 up going into half time. As I said, we did a lot of good stuff in that first 38 minutes, but then that two minutes before half time just gave them the momentum and the believe to come back at us.
“Look, that’s sport. If you don’t close off your opportunities or take them when they are on offer, you can be made to pay for them.And then our discipline, on a wet night, hurt us.In conditions like that, it’s hard to make a 40m break, but it’s quite easy to kick a ball 40m off a penalty. We gave away too many penalties. This week, we’ve kept it quite simple for the guys and, hopefully, we can get an upturn in our performance.”
In what is only Round Three of the new Premiership season, the Chiefs insists that despite the loss at Bath, there has been no panic within the ranks and that they are confident they can quickly get back on track, starting this weekend against the Warriors, who they have already defeated on home soil this season in the Premiership Rugby Cup.
“What we have to focus on is not necessarily the big picture of league tables and things like that, because it’s always tight at this stage of the season,” added Hepher. “What we have to focus on is our individual actions. Can we get more out of that carry? Can we get more out of that tackle? Can we compete harder at rucks? Can we push harder in scrums and mauls? And can we get the max out of our abilities?
“That is what we have to focus on. If we get those things right, then the results and league tables tend to look after themselves. If we’re honest, we didn’t probably really max out last week, even though we put a lot of hard work into it. Our kick chase was very good on the night, as were some other aspects of our game, but there were certain areas where we could have got more out of ourselves.”
Like the Chiefs, Worcester were unable to follow up their opening day win over Leicester Tigers last weekend as they went down to current league leaders Northampton Saints. Hepher acknowledges the Warriors - especially at home - are always tough opponents and that the Chiefs will need to be on top of their game.
“This situation is very different to earlier in the season when we went up there,” he said. “A lot of our guys were coming in off their first game that night, while they had a changed up side, so it’s going to be different personnel this weekend. What we were pleased with that night was we found a way to win the game.
“This weekend, we have to be smart and take the opportunities when they are on offer. We’ll see what the conditions are like, hopefully it will be drier than it has been this week, and then we have to try and attack the spaces that are given to us. What we have to be is, heads up, looking for an opportunity, and then going all out to grab those opportunities when they come.
“We are two games in to the season and we’ve lost one game, so it’s still early doors. What we have pushed the boys on is can we find that little bit of edge and that extra little bit. Can we put ourselves in that mental state to go out and be absolutely positive and drive ourselves forward?
“We are fitter than we’ve ever been and we are in a great position, We just have to make sure we pull it all together. That’s the bit we have probably been missing, but we’re confident we can put things right this weekend and moving forward.”
Although undone last week, the Chiefs stick largely with those on duty at Bath. The back-line remains untouched with Stuart Hogg again lining up at full-back in an exciting back three trio of Alex Cuthbert and Tom O’Flaherty. Up front, Alec Hepburn is recalled to the front-row at the expense of Ben Moon, while former Worcester favourite Matt Kvesic comes in for his first start of the season with Sam Simmonds not being risked on the artificial surface at Sixways.
On the bench, Billy Keast offers back-up to Hepburn and Kvesic’s promotion means Sean Lonsdale is added to the ranks, alongside Nic White who is drafted straight back into Chiefs life following his exertions with Australia at the Rugby World Cup in Japan.
CHIEFS SIDE TO FACE WORCESTER WARRIORS
15 Stuart Hogg
14 Tom O’Flaherty
13 Ian Whitten
12 Sam Hill
11 Alex Cuthbert
10 Joe Simmonds
9 Jack Maunder
1 Alec Hepburn
2 Jack Yeandle (capt)
3 Harry Williams
4 Dave Dennis
5 Jonny Hill
6 Dave Ewers
7 Jacques Vermeulen
8 Matt Kvesic
16 Elvis Taione
17 Billy Keast
18 Marcus Street
19 Jannes Kirsten
20 Sean Lonsdale
21 Nic White
22 Gareth Steenson
23 Tom Hendrickson