Whitten relishing Munster test
By Mark Stevens
24/8/18
Ian Whitten says Exeter Chiefs will be given the ideal test ahead of the new season when they lock horns against Munster in their final warm-up game ahead of the 2018/19 campaign.
Whitten knows better than most the threat posed by the Irish province, who will also be providing opposition to the Chiefs later in the season when the two locks horns in the Heineken Champions Cup.
During his four-year stint with Ulster, the 31-year-old centre regularly came face-to-face with Munster, who for tonight’s game have switched from their normal Thomond Park home to that of Independent Park in Cork (7:30pm).
“I played Munster a few times when I was at Ulster and they were always good battles,” said Whitten. “I’m very much looking forward to going back to Musgrave Park as it used to be.”
Now into his sixth year with the Chiefs, Whitten says facing his fellow countrymen ahead of next week’s Gallagher Premiership opener at home to Leicester Tigers will complete another hard, yet enjoyable, pre-season programme.
“Pre-season has been as tough as ever,” he added. “I had an elbow operation in June so I missed the first couple of weeks, but since then it has been hard, so it has.I was glad to get back into the games. I felt good for Saturday [against Cardiff] and hopefully I have got the lungs back and can kick on now.
“Leicester at home is a big, big start for us so it is all about getting ready for that.That said, Munster will be a big test for us – they are always confrontational and it is always a battle down there. They are always up for it and there is a lot of pride in the jersey, so they will be up for it, I have no doubt about that.”
Indeed, tackling the force of Munster should be just the ticket for the Chiefs ahead of their meeting with the Tigers.
“Leicester are always a battle so it should be ideal prep for us to get us physically ready for it,” he continued. “You can do your best in training but you can’t ever replicate the hits and getting up off the floor and getting back into the game – that always takes the wind out of you.It was good to have those minutes last week and hopefully I’ll feel better for it.”
In what has now become the norm for the Chiefs in pre-season, Rob Baxter took the opportunity to run a large percentage of his squad during their double-header against the Cornish Pirates and Cardiff Blues.
Although the Chiefs lost down in the Duchy 29-21 to the Pirates, 24 hours later a different line-up proved far too strong for the Blues at Sandy Park, winning 38-10.
Whitten said: “We had to work hard against Cardiff and it felt to me like a right tough game of rugby. We were able to come through it after going behind.It was nice to fight back and play some good stuff towards the end.”
Those games marked Exeter’s first significant action since they surrendered their Premiership crown to Saracens last May at Twickenham.
Whitten says that loss still hurts within the camp - and they will look to learn lessons from that occasion ahead of what is sure to be another big year for the club.
“That final defeat will drive us on if we get towards the play-offs again this season, but the start of the season is all about building momentum, getting back into it and trying to get a run of result together,” he said.
“We should still take a lot of confidence last year with what we did. We finished top of the league by few points, so we don’t need to change massively what we do.
“For me, it’s great to be a part of it. Obviously the club have been building since before I was here, but we have gradually moved up the league and now we are around the top four.The challenge is for us to stay there.
“We know what it is like to win trophies, we have done that now, so we know how nice it is and it would certainly be nice to do it again this year.”