Team News: Chiefs Name Side for Key Clash with Falcons

Exeter Chiefs have named their side to face Newcastle Falcons in Round 13 of the Gallagher Premiership at Sandy Park on Saturday.

This will be a key clash for both sides who sit seven points apart at the base of the league table. Chiefs come into the encounter after a rejuvenated performance away to Bristol Bears while Newcastle were defeated by Sale Sharks up North.

There’s rotation in the Chiefs front row as Scott Sio, Jack Yeandle and Josh Iosefa-Scott slot back into the starting scrum.

Dafydd Jenkins captains the side from the boiler room alongside Franco Molina. After a gritty performance against Bristol, Martin Moloney retains his starting spot in the back row with Richard Capstick and Greg Fisilau.

Stu Townsend returns for the clash to bring experience to the half-back duo with Ben Coen starting again at fly half. There’s a sole change in the remainder of the back line as Harvey Skinner comes in to start at full-back.

Henry Slade starts in the centre with Will Rigg as Josh Hodge and Paul Brown-Bampoe run the wings.

Director of Rugby Rob Baxter looks forward to seeing further improvement from his squad following a try-scoring, bonus-point clinching performance at Ashton Gate.

“I thought the performance we put in at Bristol was very positive, very pleasing and hopefully is a baseline for what we want to achieve over the rest of the season.

“The pressure we’re putting on ourselves is that we want to improve, we want to get better. We want to put good performances in front of our home crowd more than anything else. We want to win games, so we’re putting that pressure on ourselves every week.

“What we’ve got to do is focus on the processes that enable us to get the wins. Our Achilles heel this season has been that our desperation to get a result has not brought out the best performances in us. We’ve almost got to reset ourselves and how we approach the minute-by-minute actions that allow you to stay in the moment.”

Max Norey, Kwenzo Blose and Jimmy Roots sit ready for scrum action on the bench while Rusi Tuima returns to the squad for the first time since breaking his jaw against Cornish Pirates in early February.

A week on from his Premiership debut, Kane James is again named on the bench.

Tom Cairns shifts to the bench while Tamati Tua returns to the side with Ben Hammersley rounding out the replacements.

Exeter Chiefs:

15 Harvey Skinner

14 Paul Brown-Bampoe

13 Henry Slade

12 Will Rigg

11 Josh Hodge

10 Ben Coen

9 Stu Townsend

1 Scott Sio

2 Jack Yeandle

3 Josh Iosefa-Scott

4 Dafydd Jenkins (c)

5 Franco Molina

6 Martin Moloney

7 Richard Capstick

8 Greg Fisilau

Replacements:

16 Max Norey

17 Kwenzo Blose

18 Jimmy Roots

19 Rusi Tuima

20 Kane James

21 Tom Cairns

22 Tamati Tua

23 Ben Hammersley