Hepher expects response from his champions

EXETER head coach Ali Hepher believes his side are over their month of turmoil and ready come out fighting in defence of their Premiership title.

Last season’s doublewinners were hit by Covid in December and nearly dumped out of Europe after their trip to Toulouse was scrapped, before being soundly beaten by Wasps and Bristol.

Hepher is backing his side to deliver a backlash despite losing a number of key men during the Six Nations period.

He said: “Coming into the new season we went really well and flew into the Glasgow Champions Cup game, but Covid stopped us in our tracks – not being able to go to Toulouse was a huge disappointment.

“We felt ready to have a good shot at retaining that title so to have that almost pulled away from us felt pretty devastating. It looks like we might be still in after all, but when Covid gets into your squad it’s hard to work your way out.

“On top of that dealing with international rest periods, quick turnarounds, injuries and other normal illness, it was quite a disrupted period going into the games against Wasps and Bristol.

“Our players are not robots; they’d played a lot of huge games and you can’t just reset them and stick them out there. Every season I’ve been here we’ve had an ‘emotional dump’ and always responded positively to those setbacks.

“The league is so competitive, particularly with sides like Wasps and Bristol because they’re after us, no question. They fully deserved their wins over us but we feel pretty confident that we’ve still got the ability to win big games.

“These last couple of weeks have been good because we’ve had a chance to look at ourselves and reinforce our foundations.”

Eight league games during the Six Nations period will test the depth of sides but Hepher will be boosted by returning stars.

He revealed: “It’s an improving picture. Stuart Hogg, Facundo Cordero and Alex Cuthbert are in the mix for Worcester this week, Dave Ewers and Josh Hodge will be back, while Jack Nowell, Ben Moon, Jacques Vermeulen and, Jannes Kirsten aren’t far away.”