Hunter hopes competition for places will drive up standards

Rob Hunter believes competition to get into the Exeter Chiefs starting line-up ahead of the new Aviva Premiership season will help to drive standards up during pre-season.

Forwards coach Hunter said he was “pretty pleased” after watching the English champions notch up victories over the Cornish Pirates (47-15) and Dragons (50-24) during Saturday’s Double Header at Sandy Park.

The Chiefs split their playing squad into two different line-ups for the two games, thus allowing a large nucleus to press their claims for a potential starting spot in the club’s opening league fixture against Gloucester on Friday, September 1.

Having bolstered their ranks with six new additions during the summer, many of those were given their first outings in a Chiefs jersey against the Pirates. Forwards Toby Salmon, Matt Kvesic, James Freeman and Wilhelm van der Sluys all took on the Championship outfit, while Aussie scrum-half Nic White debuted in the second fixture against the Welsh region.

Post-match, Hunter explained the reasoning behind giving many of the newcomers their chance against the Pirates:

“Externally, it always looks like it is easy to slot into our team, but the truth is it’s not. We are quite a complex club in terms of how we play, although it may look at times fairly simple.

“There is a lot to learn, so we very much loaded the side to play the Pirates with the new guys, to give them the opportunity to get lots and lots of repetitions in really, with both line-out and scrum, and away from that too, and we are very pleased with how they are coming on."

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