Western Morning News (Saturday)
Chiefs in ‘last chance saloon’ for Premiership play-off place
IT’S do or die for the Exeter Chiefs in their quest to reach the playoffs in this season’s Gallagher Premiership.
With just three rounds of the regular season remaining, Rob Baxter and his team know anything less than success in all of them and their hopes of a big day out at Twickenham will be scuppered for another season.
A hefty defeat at Bath last time out in the Premiership did little to aid their cause, but the response in the wake of that loss at the Recreation Ground has certainly been impressive from the Devonians, who have since advanced to the last four of the Heineken Champions Cup with back-to-back victories over reigning French champions Montpellier and, more recently, reigning URC champions, the DHL Stormers.
Baxter was not afraid to go public in his disappointment following the Bath performance and his aftermatch assessment that day clearly stated that change would be needed. True to his word, a number of those who had performed so well in Exeter’s Premiership Rugby Cup triumph were rewarded with starting roles and they’ve not disappointed since, continuing their rich vein of form with some stellar performances in European battle.
Equally, others have also stepped up and it’s enabled the feel-good factor to return to Sandy Park, both on and off the field, ahead of tomorrow’s crunch Premiership encounter with Leicester Tigers at Welford Road (3pm).
With the English champions themselves looking to all but book their own place in the play-offs, this promises to be one to savour and Baxter has challenged his troops to face the battle ‘head on’ in this week’s match preparations.
“There were things in that Bath game that needed to come out,” said Baxter this week. “I know that comment may come back and kick me in the teeth if we have similar issues again this week but, as I said, that game needed to happen. When we came back in the week after that game, it was important we communicated, which we did, and it was important we looked at the video and we understood what was going wrong.
“That following week, we made changes and we put pressure on the guys, especially the senior ones, to stand up. To a man, everyone has stood up and I’ve impressed with how as a group we’ve come together these last few weeks. In an ideal world I’d love to bottle that up, but that’s kind of where our issues have been this season. Finding that consistency has been what we’ve craved.
“The challenge this week is, however, after two big emotional performances like we’ve had, we now have to follow it up with a third up at Leicester. That’s what we’ve talked about this week and we’ve done our best to get our messaging and our training right in terms of doing and saying the right things.”
Standing in the way of the Chiefs will be a Tigers outfit who themselves had their noses blooded a week ago in Europe by Leinster at the Aviva Stadium. Baxter knows from past experience that trips to Welford Road are certainly occasions to savour but, equally, are among the toughest tests in top-flight rugby.
“Going to Welford Road with the Tigers in full cry, it’s about as tough a test as you’ll get,” warned Baxter. “Like ourselves, they are chasing hard for that top four, so it will be a different challenge to what we’ve faced in recent weeks. What we have to do as a team, however, is approach the game in the same way as we have this past fortnight. That means getting that team ethic right, getting that buy-in from the players – physically and emotionally – and harnessing it into another big performance.
“Anyone who has watched only our home games this season will only have seen us lose once – and that was to the final kick against Saracens – so they would think we’re having an incredible season. It’s what we’ve done on the road, other than Bristol away, which has been our real downfall.
“All I’ve said to our guys this week is to go out and enjoy things. One of our big mistakes over the last three or four years is that we’ve probably not enjoyed or embraced the journey as much as we should have. I’ve not set us massive goals for this weekend, other than I want the guys to come back in the changing room at the end, look at each other and be proud of what they’ve put out there. If you go out there, give it everything, both personally and collectively, and still come up short, that can happen.
“The big difference you’ve seen with the crowd these last few weeks is that they’ve seen a group of guys who are putting their heart and soul into everything they are doing. You can see they care and how much it means to them.
“I am not concerned about the team going into a European semifinal, I’m probably more concerned about us making sure we free ourselves up enough this week and produce a performance that doesn’t inhibit us in any way.
“We are pretty much in ‘last chance saloon’ in the Premiership and if we don’t get at least a positive result at Leicester, the way other results go could pretty much seal our fate in terms of the top four. We’re not running away from anything, but at the same time we can’t use that to go up there and clam up and not play any rugby.
“Leicester don’t tend to go through any game without scoring any points, so we’re going to have go up there and score points ourselves.”
In team news, Baxter makes a number of changes to his winning formula of a week ago. In the pack, Nika Abuladze makes his Premiership debut in a new-look front-row alongside returning skipper Jack Yeandle and Josh Iosefa-Scott, while Jack Dunne comes in at lock and Aidon Davis is added to the backrow. Behind the scrum, Solomone Kata replaces Henry Slade and Stuart Hogg starts at full-back with Tom Wyatt switching to the wing in place of Jack Nowell.
On the bench, there are also inclusions for Jack Innard, Mike Williams, Rus Tuima, Stu Townsend and Rory O’Loughlin as Baxter looks to keep his options fresh after two bruising European encounters.