Tackling like Lions
English playmaker returning from the Blues in Auckland.
Pay attention to the resurrection, hopefully, of Manu Tuilagi in a lethallooking backline at Leicester where a £700,000 investment in George Ford should bear fruit, as well as the development of Sam Underhill at Bath and the Curry twins at Sale. Indeed, with Matt Kvesic aiming to relaunch his career at Exeter, this could be the season of the poacher flanker.
Kvesic will start on the bench at old club Gloucester tonight alongside Exeter’s Lion Jack Nowell as the Chiefs launch their defence. Life is subtly different operating with a target on your back, as Exeter are about to find out, but having taken all previous steps in their stride since arriving in the Premiership, they are confident they can handle this one.
“We have to be comfortable with it,” said Baxter. “I want to experience Friday night at Gloucester as champions.
“We are not going to be a team who are scared of losing a game or scared of what people will say if we don’t win just because we were champions last year. I want us to go up there, throw some punches, get ourselves into the game and see what playing in the Premiership is like when you are currently the top team in England.”
Such an exalted billing will grate with Saracens, who the Chiefs eliminated in the semi-final at Sandy Park last season. Fresh from their preparations in Bermuda, the European champions have them in their sights.
“The fact that we didn’t do as well as we thought we could do makes this season exciting,” said Saracens fly-half Owen Farrell.
“We were beaten by a good team down in their back garden. Hopefully it will make us more eager to improve and put a good foot forward early on this year.
“The thing about last year was that we were in a good spot in the league for a long time but ended up finishing third. If we can get in a good position, stay in a good position and get a home semi-final that will put us in better stead.”
At the other end of the table, Worcester, who pulled clear of relegation with Gary Gold’s arrival last season, can again expect to be in a survival scrap, this time with promoted London Irish.
The Warriors are the worst starters in the Premiership – having won just 18.2 per cent of their opening fixtures – so tonight’s trip to Newcastle, which they undertake with Ben Te’o on the bench, does not bode well.
Over the course of the campaign, though, they should have just enough to hold off Irish. If defence is to be king this season, a side who leaked eight tries to Yorkshire Carnegie in the two-leg Championship play-off final in May could be too porous to stay up in the top flight.
MAJOR LAW CHANGES