Toulouse the perfect test for Chiefs this weekend
GREAT teams raise their game for the big occasion and Exeter Chiefs director of rugby Rob Baxter believes that is exactly what his side will do when they face Toulouse next weekend.
Chiefs will play in their first ever Heineken Champions Cup semifinal on Saturday having won their first quarter-final, 38-15, against Northampton Saints on Sunday evening.
In contrast their opponents Toulouse reached the knockout stages of the elite European competition for the 18th time in their history this season after going unbeaten in the group stages, the joint most of any club along with Munster.
The French Top 14 club are one of the glorious names of European rugby having won the competition four times and eased into yet another semi-final with a heavy 36-8 defeat of Ulster earlier in the day.
But having been heavy favourites to advance into the semi-final, Baxter said he is delighted the metal of his squad will be truly tested next weekend for the first time since rugby resumed from lockdown having won six out of seven games in the Gallagher Premiership to ensure the Devon club will finish on top of the pile going into the league play-offs.
Discussing playing Toulouse, Baxter said: “It is exactly what you want and I think it is what we need.
“The group of players involved today need a really tough, really exciting game because the way the Premiership has turned out, we got a couple of tough games under our belt early on with Leicester and Sale but then it has ended up that this group has played against rotated teams a little bit more than the midweek team.
“Today was a good blow out for them and it was a good work out both physically and mentally.”
Chiefs were far from their dominant best against Saints but still had comfortably enough to put away their domestic rivals, scoring five tries through Jack Maunder, Jacques Vermeulen (2), Jack Nowell and Jonny Hill while Saints captain Teimana Harrison and Fraser Dingwall crossed the whitewash for a spirited Northampton side.
With the semi-final being at Sandy Park due to Exeter’s superior seeding from the group stages, and with a clean bill of health from Sunday’s game, Baxter said his side must make the most of the advantages they have.
He said: “Nobody came off injured which has been unusual for us in the last couple of weeks so that is good news and hopefully that will mean in a shortened week we can get two good training days in because that is going to be important and will allow us to feel well prepped for the Toulouse game.
“It is to our benefit that Toulouse have got a fair bit of travelling to do and traveling in the Covid situation is pretty tough.
“We have got to try and use all those things to our advantage and work them hard when they come to Sandy Park and make it a game which is very tough for them.”
A historic place in the final and potential sporting immortality is at stake.