Slade wary of Sharks threat
By Mark Stevens
14/12/19
Henry Slade says the Exeter Chiefs are ‘under no illusions’ how tough Sunday’s Heineken Champions Cup clash against visiting Sale Sharks will be.
A week on from defeating the same opponents 22-20 at the AJ Bell Stadium, the two Gallagher Premiership sides will once again lock horns in second leg of the annual European double-header.
Rob Baxter’s struck the first blow by recording a third successive Pool Two victory, but England international Slade says the Chiefs are bracing themselves for a response of sorts from the Sharks this weekend (1pm).
“These back to back games are different to most of the season,” said Slade. “It’s not often you play the same opponents two weeks’ on the trot. Those who tend to do well, though, are those sides who recover best, who improve best, and who can get the best analysis in and work on what went well for you, as well as what the other side’s strengths were.”
Having already defeated La Rochelle (away) and Glasgow Warriors (home), the Chiefs maintained their impressive start to their European campaign by downing the Sharks on their own patch.
Stuart Hogg and Luke Cowan-Dickie both scored tries for the visitors, whose other points came from a penalty try and the boot of fly-half Joe Simmonds.
The Chiefs led 22-13 at the break, but had to withstand a strong second half showing from the Sharks to ensure they left Salford with the vital victory.
“I wouldn’t say this year is a surprise to anyone,” said Slade, when asked about Exeter’s excellent start to this season’s competition. “We’ve been working hard in the games, but you could say we’ve done the same in previous years as well.
“Perhaps where the difference has been is in the past we’ve probably been guilty of having the odd lapse and teams have punished us for that. As a group, I think we’ve all learnt a lot over the last few years in terms of Europe and that was pretty evident last weekend up at Sale.
“We had to dig deep in that game, especially the second half. In years gone by, we would probably have lost a game like that, so it shows we have a bit of fight about us. Hopefully, we can keep moving forward over these last three pool games,”
Certainly, the Chiefs will be looking to build on their winning formula. Success on Sunday will virtually guarantee their place in the knockout stages for only the second time in the club’s history.
And Slade says should he and his team-mates qualify, there is no reason why the Chiefs can’t continue to push forward amongst Europe’s elite.
“We’ve got an incredibly talented squad here,” said Slade. “We’ve got lots of options across the park and combinations that really compliment one another. The boys are feeling confident at the moment, we had a good result last week, but we’re under no illusions how tough this weekend is going to be.
“Sale, we know, are a very good side with very good players. They’ll be tough, we saw that last week, and it will be the same again this week. As a side we really had to work hard last week, because it’s tough to win up at their place. Now, we’ve got to show the same fight on Sunday.”