Low is aiming high after up and down start

MORAY Low insists Exeter must raise the bar ahead of today’s crunch clash at a sold-out Sandy Park.

Last season’s beaten Premiership finalists have failed to fire since the start of the season, winning just two of their opening eight games. Bath, by contrast, arrive in Devon on a roll after claiming seven wins and are confident of boosting their play-off chances.

Low told TRP: “It’s a massive game for us. We’ve been a bit up and down, but we put in a good performance at Ulster last week and hopefully we can take that back into the league now and move our game on.

“It’s been a real mixed bag. We played a lot of top six sides early on and we’ve not been performing at our best, but we’ve been pushing things hard in training and making sure we don’t just rest on what we did last year.

“We’ve let some results slip, but we’re very keen on staying focussed now and want to push on over the rest of the season.”

Chiefs were hammered 35-8 by Clermont Auvergne on their last home appearance a fortnight ago.

Low is keen to make amends, added: “We enjoyed a lot of possession and territory against Clermont but our breakdown work wasn’t good enough and we let ourselves and our fans down.

“At Ulster we improved and we need to keep the bar at that level now and push to raise it higher. We need to put in a strong performance this week to make our fans proud again.” Meanwhile, Low believes his versatility in being able to operate on both sides of the scrum will keep him at the forefront of Scotland’s thinking ahead of next month’s autumn internationals. A tight-head by trade, Low, 31, said: “I ruptured a hamstring in April 2015, which meant I missed the World Cup. But coming back and helping Exeter reach last season’s Premiership final was massive and it’s given me a chance to develop.

“I’ve really improved and playing at loose-head, as well tight-head, has allowed me to develop my techniques around lineouts, mauls and the many different roles around the park.

“It’s great to be named in the Scotland squad and have a chance of more caps against the Southern Hemisphere sides.”