Western Morning News (Saturday)
Cup tie is a chance for fringe players to shine
THE shackles are off for Exeter Chiefs ahead of their final pool game in this season’s Premiership Rugby Cup against Worcester Warriors today (3pm).
Skills coach Ricky Pellow knows his side face an uphill task in their quest to reach the latter stages of the competition, but even so he has challenged his players to go out and prove their worth at Sandy Park.
“These Cup weeks are exciting, not just for the young players, but for those senior players wanting game time as well,” said the Cornishman.
“From that perspective, it’s been an energetic week, one full of enthusiasm and one in which all the guys really want to go out and perform.”
Defeats to Bristol Bears and Gloucester in the opening two rounds were followed with a five-point success in Round Three after Bath were unable to fulfill that fixture back in December due to Covid-19 in their camp.
“We’re still in the mix, but we know we need five points from this weekend’s game and then hope results elsewhere go our way,” added Pellow.
“It will be tough, we know that, but that shouldn’t take away from our guys going out at the weekend and looking to put in a big performance, both individually and collectively.
“As I said, it’s a chance for a number of those younger players within the squad to get their chance, put their voices across in training and in meetings, and build on their development pathways. For all of them, any chance they get to play in the first team, they need to take!
“Yes, it’s an isolated fixture, but what they can do at the weekend is go out and perform in a way which not only helps in this game, but can help push them forward next week, next month, next season. They must not let this moment go.”
Over the years the Chiefs have used this competition as the springboard to launch the careers of a number of their rising stars, many of whom now form the nucleus of the first-team squad.
Equally, there are senior stars who will also take to the field this afternoon in a bid to get some much-needed game time under their belts after long-term injuries.
Among them is experienced half-back Stu Townsend, who is set to put five months of injury woe behind him as he leads the side out on only his second appearance of the season. The scrum-half has battled his way back from shoulder reconstruction to hopefully thrust himself back into the selection mix for the remainder of the season.
“It’s great to have that sprinkling of senior guys within the squad,” said Pellow. “Obviously, they bring an energy to the group themselves, but it’s important that direct in the right way.
“Guys like Will Witty and Stu Townsend, they bring everything the others do, but they also add that detail at key points. They know when to step in and say the right things – and they lead by example in training.
“For those young players training alongside them, they can see what they bring and how they go about things. All week we’ve just allowed the players to kind of lead on what we want them to do.
“As coaches we can watch from the sidelines and give our take on a few things, but we want this group to drive how we play and what we want to get from the game.”