Western Morning News (Saturday)
Nowell boost as Chiefs look to bounce back
England and British Lions winger involved for the first time this season
JACK Nowell is included in the Exeter Chiefs match-day squad for the first time this season as Rob Baxter says his players will use the disappointment of last weekend’s Heineken Champions Cup exit as the ‘driver’ to push forward in the defence of their Gallagher Premiership crown.
Undone by an impressive Leinster side at Sandy Park last Saturday, the Devonians must regroup and bounce back against visiting Wasps in the Premiership today (KO 12.30pm).
“We have to move on quickly,” said the Chiefs’ director of rugby. “We reviewed last weekend on Monday, as we always do, and as a group we’ve ticked off what we needed to learn from that game. Sometimes you have really good conversations after you lose important games like that – and now all the chat has been on how quick we can move forward.
“As I said to the guys at the start of the week, you have two choices after a game like that. You can spend a lot of time getting emotionally worried about the result and trying to know how you feel about it – or you can deal with it pretty honestly, get on with it, and decided to move forward.
“What we need to do is use the disappointment of last week as a driver to go to that next step.”
With just seven rounds of the regular Premiership season remaining, the Chiefs currently sit second in the standings, 12 points adrift of leaders Bristol Bears, but only three points ahead of third-placed Sale Sharks.
Baxter knows his side can ill afford any slip-ups, particularly as they look to secure a top two placing – and with it the all-important home advantage in the semi-finals.
The home side’s cause is boosted by the return of England and British Lions winger Nowell, and Baxter is delighted to have the talented back available again.
“We’ve held him back a little longer than Jack would have liked, but we’ve got plenty of load into him and now he’s very much at the level he was when he was fully fit last season,” explained Baxter.
“We’ve declared him fit for this weekend and now it’s an opportunity for him to show some form.
“From what we have seen in training, he certainly looks sharp and everything looks very positive.”
Nowell will start tomorrow’s game on the bench, but is likely to be given some involvement.
Other changes in personnel from last week see Alec Hepburn and Harry Williams return to the front-row, where they will prop up hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie, who is set to make his 100th Premiership appearance.
Behind them, Sam Skinner comes into the second-row for Jonny Gray, while the sole change to the Exeter back division comes on the winger where Facundo Cordero starts ahead of Olly Woodburn.