Crunch clash excites Dollman
By Mark Stevens
3/3/18
Phil Dollman insists Exeter Chiefs need little reminding of the threat posed to them this Sunday by visiting Saracens in the Aviva Premiership (3pm).
In what is the stand-out fixture of Round 17, the Premiership’s top two clubs will lock horns in an encounter which is sure to go some way to deciding who ends up where come the end of the regular season.
The Chiefs, however, are currently top of the pile - four points clear of the Londoners - and will come into the contest buoyed by last weekend’s last-gasp victory over Northampton Saints that saw them return to the summit.
Welshman Dollman admitted the victory - courtesy of Thomas Waldrom’s converted try in the final minute - was just the tonic he and his team-mates needed after a sticky spell, which had seen them lose three successive Premiership games.
Now, Devon’s finest are keen to kick on and further cement their place within the top two, inflicting a telling blow on their nearest rivals at the same time.
“It has been a bit of a rough patch, but I think we are doing the right things in training and that is showing week by week,” said Dollman. “Over the last three weeks we have made little improvements, and we have got to keep doing that really to strive to get back to where we were at some stages last season and playing some really good stuff.
“Hopefully we can do that this weekend. It is a really tough game to do it in, but we are working hard and we are doing our analysis and making sure that we get the most out of each day.”
Overcoming the reigning European champions, though, is no easy task and Dollman says the Chiefs will need to be at their best if they are to glean a 12th league win of the campaign.
“Whenever we play Saracens, it is always one of those big games, and we don’t really think about the fact they are second and they are striving to get ahead of us,” added Dollman. “We are just trying to get as many points as we can, but we know, coming up against Saracens and those top clubs, you have got to put in big performances and try and be as good as we can be.”
Certainly the signs have been there in recent weeks that Rob Baxter’s side are rediscovering their form and the long-serving full-back is keen for the upturn in fortunes to continue this weekend.
“People are always going to analyse you and try their best to nullify our strengths, and hopefully we can stay ahead of the curve on that, and try and innovate where teams are trying to stop us,” said Dollman. “I think we have had a little bit of a trough, but hopefully we are on the rise again now.”
The Chiefs go into Sunday’s showdown boosted by the return to fitness of England duo Henry Slade and Sam Simmonds after shoulder injuries, as well as club captain Jack Yeandle, who has overcome an ankle problem.
The trio’s return, coupled with a largely unchanged line-up from a week ago, mean the hosts are in fine fettle, even if they are still missing England stars Harry Williams and Jack Nowell. Equally, Saracens are also without a large number of their international contingent, including the likes Mako Vunipola, Maro Itoje, Richard Wigglesworth and Owen Farrell.
Some pundits have mentioned Exeter’s recent dip in form coinciding with the loss of those players calledup for Six Nations duty, but Dollman believes the strength of the Chiefs squad is sufficient enough to cope with the absentees - and that a rise in intensity in recent weeks has ensured the team have got back on track.
He added: “I don’t tend to look that far ahead. I probably go one or two weeks ahead and try and concentrate on doing that week by week. In our early years in the Premiership, we probably strengthened a little bit while other teams fell away, but this year we have lost a few guys, but we have still got plenty of strength in depth so we can cope with that.
“I just think it has coincided with a little bit of a loss of form, so we don’t worry about those times. We don’t look at who we are going to lose to international call-ups, we just try and roll through it. Instead, we’d like to think we are a pretty rugged team and over the years we have dealt with a lot that has been thrown us, and hopefully we can do the same against Sarries, because they are going to test us.”