Kai's up for the Cup
By Mark Stevens
16/3/18
Kai Horstmann is hoping to cap another milestone in his Exeter career by leading the Chiefs to victory in Sunday’s Anglo-Welsh Cup final against Bath at Kingsholm (3pm).
The experienced back-row forward not only has the honour of leading Devon’s finest into a fourth successive final appearance in the competition, but he will also be pulling on his Chiefs jersey for the 100th time.
Signed back in 2012 from Worcester Warriors, the 36-year-old will bring the curtain down on his 16-year professional career at the end of this season, before taking on a new corporate role at Sandy Park.
Before that time comes, however, Horstmann – who helped the Chiefs to lift the Aviva Premiership title for the first time last May and also the LV= Cup back in March 2014 – has his sights set on bringing yet more success to his club.
“It’s a huge privilege for me to be asked to captain the side at the weekend,” he said. “It’s something you never get bored of and hopefully it will be a good day for us.
“Bath, we know, are a historic side with a huge amount of pride. They’ve not won any silverware for a while, so we know they’ll be chasing it hard at the weekend. That said, we’ve had a good training week and we’ve put the building blocks in place for the game.
“There’s a lot of enthusiasm amongst the guys, but there’s also that bit of edge, which you need. It’s Cup Final week after all, so hopefully everything is in place for the weekend.”
Horstmann is one of a handful of changes the Chiefs have made to their starting XV from that which saw off in-form Newcastle Falcons 20-17 in the semi-final at Sandy Park last Sunday. He comes into the pack, along with Toby Salmon, while behind there are starts for Will Chudley, Gareth Steenson and Tom Hendrickson.
Again, though, it’s a powerful Chiefs line-up and one which the Harare-born forward believes is more than capable of claiming success.
“We’re so fortunate with the talent we have within the squad,” added Horstmann. “This is a competition which can be used in so many ways, but we seem to get the balance right here at the Chiefs.
“It can be used as the stepping stones for youngsters coming through – we’ve seen in the past the likes of the Simmonds brothers, Stu Townsend and Jack Maunder, how they’ve used it to progress – whilst for some of the more experienced guys, who have been on the fringe of the first team, they can use it potentially to accelerate themselves back into contention for those big Premiership games at the end of the season.”
But equally the chance to lift one of the season’s major prizes can provide the necessary motivation for players to go out and perform on the big stage.
“The competition means a great deal,” continued Horstmann. “Go back to 2014 when we won it here, that was a special day and it started that belief amongst us all that we could go on and win big things. It’s a first-class competition, it’s first-class silverware, and hopefully we can have it back in our trophy cabinet come Monday.”