Kai Horstmann hungry for glory in swansong season at Exeter
NEALE HARVEY finds two Exeter Chiefs back rowers desperate to finish the season in style
“The back row competition at Exeter is probably the strongest in any Premiership team”
- Dave Dennis
Dave Dennis and Kai Horstmann will be men on a mission when Exeter Chiefs collide with Bath looking to secure their third major piece of silverware in four years.
Both experienced back row forwards have endured campaigns to forget, with Aussie star Dennis, 32, finally fit again after five months out with biceps and knee injuries and Horstmann, 36, frustrated by a lack of game time in his final season as a professional.
The Anglo-Welsh Cup is derided in many quarters and its future is in doubt, but try telling this pair of hardbitten veterans today’s showdown means nothing. Former Wallaby Dennis told The
Rugby Paper: “It’s been a long five months and whenever you’re injured you feel like you’re not contributing to the cause, so it’s nice to be back having an opportunity to contribute towards some big team wins.
“It’s been a bit of a double-whammy having biceps and knee injuries and I had been aiming to be back in mid-tolate January, so the extra four or five weeks has been disappointing, but it’s all done now and I’m hungry to get involved in our season.”
Dennis added: “Being part of today’s final is awesome but it’s also an opportunity to be part of the Premiership team moving forward and win another championship there.
“When you look at the strength of our squad the back row competition at Exeter is probably the strongest in any Premiership team.
“Sam Simmonds and Don Armand have been away with England and, realistically, there are eight or nine guys here you could fit into three places so there’s always pressure to play well and earn a spot in the team.
“Every time you run out in a Chiefs jersey, regardless of whether it’s the league, Anglo-Welsh, Europe or A-League you’re representing the club and it’s an opportunity to impress. Bath will be dogged, you saw that in their semi-final, and they’ll present hard with their line speed, defence and try to pressure us, but we aim to go the distance.”
Horstmann, meanwhile, leads the team and is relishing the chance of a third major winner’s medal after helping Chiefs to Anglo-Welsh success in 2014 and last year’s Premiership title.
Having been starved of league action this season Horstmann, who is joining the club’s corporate sales team this summer, told TRP: “It’s been hugely frustrating for me but you always imagine yourself going out on a high and I’m hoping there’s this Anglo-Welsh Cup and some more silverware to come for us at the end of the season.
“It would mean a great deal to end my playing time at Exeter with two more medals around my neck and whichever way you look at the AngloWelsh Cup, it’s a competition that kick-started us in 2014 and made us believe we were good enough to win things. Nothing’s changed for us, we really value this competition and we’re going after it.”
The intensity of Exeter’s rivalry with Bath now matches anything traditional West Country derbies against Gloucester and Bristol can offer and Horstmann believes his side’s cup final experience in recent seasons will stand them in good stead.
He added: “It’s a cup final and because it’s Bath the stakes are a bit higher, but whoever it was in a final I don’t think we’d approach it differently. We’ve had a lot of cup final experience now but no matter how many times you’ve been involved in these games, you must cherish them for what they are.
“They’re special opportunities and the last thing we want is to come in on Monday having lost, thinking we didn’t get the building blocks right.”
Horstmann is promoted into the starting line-up for today’s game and will have the honour of skippering the Chiefs on his 100th appearance for the club.
Behind the Exeter eight, the Chiefs go with a new-look half-back pairing of Will Chudley and Gareth Steenson, while the only other change sees Tom Hendrickson come into the midfield alongside former Bath favourite Ollie Devoto.
Bath have made three changes to the starting line-up that defeated Northampton last weekend. Matt Banahan comes in on the right wing, while Freddie Burns and Kahn Fotuali’i form a new half-back pairing.