Sanderson has had fantastic impact, says Baxter

EXETER Chiefs boss Rob Baxter has hailed Alex Sanderson’s “fantastic impact” on Sale Sharks ahead of this afternoon’s Gallagher Premiership play-off clash.

While Baxter’s Chiefs are reigning champions and bidding to reach a sixth-successive Premiership final, Sale are targeting a first Twickenham appearance since winning in 2006.

The Sharks return to Sandy Park just seven days after suffering a 20-19 regular-season defeat against Exeter. The Chiefs have now lost Sam Skinner, red carded in that game, and flanker Dave Ewers through suspension, while Sale head back to Devon without injured fly-half AJ MacGinty, who has undergone knee surgery after being injured last week.

“You can’t say anything other than he has had a fantastic impact at Sale,” Baxter said of Sanderson. “The truth of it is that the Premiership table doesn’t lie. It genuinely doesn’t.

“Getting into the top four is hard, and this is the part of the season where you can almost relax and enjoy it. The 22 games to get here are tough – it’s where you want to be at the end of the season that’s the hard bit. You have got to win two games of rugby now, you haven’t got to win 17 or 18, which is what you have to do when you start the season.

“So just to get here, I can’t give him (Sanderson) enough credit for that in itself.

“Obviously, the game against them at the weekend was very tough. There is something about Sale that makes them very hard to beat. They are a tough nut to crack, and that is a lot of credit to him (Sanderson).”

England international Jack Nowell has recovered from a knee injury and returns to Exeter’s starting lineup, featuring at full-back instead of

Scotland captain Stuart Hogg, who is among the replacements.

Skinner and Ewers are replaced by Jonny Gray and Richard Capstick, respectively, with Jannes Kirsten switching from openside to blindside flanker, while Robert Du Preez takes over from MacGinty for Sale, while wing Marland Yarde and flanker Ben Curry are also called up.

Sanderson said: “We are very, very motivated to go down there and have another crack. We’ve got the opportunity to right all our wrongs this weekend against the same opposition. I think that is a rare gift.”