Chiefs side to face Warriors

Refreshed and revived after a much-needed week off, Exeter Chiefs will be looking to rekindle their European aspirations against lowly Worcester Warriors in tomorrow's Aviva Premiership encounter at Sixways (3pm).

Having slipped to ninth place with just four games remaining, Rob Baxter's side know they need to get a shift on during the final run-in if they are to stand any chance of competing in the new-look European Rugby Champions Cup next season.

With details of the fledgling competition finally confirmed this week, a top six finish would certainly guarantee Devon's finest a place at Europe's top table for the 2014/15 season, whilst a seventh-place finish would (for this season only) set them up for a play-off encounter with the side that finishes in a similar position in France's Top14.

It is little wonder Baxter is keen to see his troops re-engage in top flight battle this weekend determined to get their campaign back on track following successive league defeats to Leicester Tigers and Gloucester.

Standing in the way of the Chiefs, however, are a Warriors side who - fresh from claiming their first league win of the season last time out against Newcastle Falcons - are themselves buoyed with the urgency of trying to protect their Premiership status.

Baxter is aware it's a potential banana skin in the making, but having collected victories in every fixture since their arrival in the Premiership in 2010, the Chiefs leader says motivation within the Exeter camp is high as they look to chase their end goal.

Equally, the Warriors themselves are determined to pull off what seemed 'Mission Impossible' a few weeks' ago and Baxter says his team must be ready to face a stern examination.

“The key battle is who is going to be more highly motivated,” said Baxter. “Worcester have got a great motivation, they have given themselves a real lifeline with their win at Newcastle.

“I’ll be disappointed if we’re under-motivated for the game. People are aware there’s a potential play-off for the seventh-placed team to get in the new European competition and there are three or four teams in the Premiership who can be in that seventh spot.

“What will be will be in four games’ time. I don’t want us to look and say we need ten points or 12 points or 15 points, I want us to look at Worcester and say: ‘Let’s get it right this week’. Let’s make sure our desire to perform is bang-on and go from there.”

Having already collected two victories over the Warriors already this term - one in the Premiership, the other in the LV= Cup - Baxter expects this third instalment to be the toughest yet for his team.

"We know it's going to be a tough game up there, but what I want to see is us getting ourselves back up and playing in a fresh and energetic manner and just looking forward to playing games of Premiership rugby again. Worcester's performances have slowly been improving, there results have been getting closer, and that in itself shows they are becoming more and more competitive.

"At the same time, we have tended to do well against Worcester over the years and we have probably been a bit disappointed with the up and down nature of some of our performances this season. I think that probably had a bit of an effect on us after the LV= Cup Final in that we worked extremely hard in various competitions and got nothing out of some, yet in another we got a final win out of it.

"Yes, there was a bit of a hangover at Leicester and we didn't get back on track quite enough to beat Gloucester here. Personally, I am very disappointed we didn't beat Gloucester because deep down we should have beaten them. We were a good enough team to have won here at home against them, yet we let ourselves down a little bit. I think the players feel that as well and as a result they have come back in this week and trained very well

"Worcester, we know, are a good, strong, physical side and we'll have to play well to beat them. However, it should be like that. This is what the Premiership is all about, you shouldn't expect to go somewhere - or even at home - not play well and then expect to win. What we have to expect is that we have to play flat out all the time and that will ultimately give you an opportunity to win the game. We have approached most Premiership games like that over the years and it normally holds us in very good stead."

Certainly the Chiefs will need to improve on their error-strewn display of that produced against Gloucester, who survived seeing a last-gasp Gareth Steenson conversion just sail wide to give them a slender win at Sandy Park.

Baxter added: "You can push the hard luck button a few times, but the reality is you have to take out the factor of it coming down to one decision or just one kick. I said after the game it was miraculous how we didn't get a penalty try - and everybody seems to be in agreement with that - but as it was it didn't get given, so what you have to do is play in a manner that it doesn't come down to a kick or a penalty try.

"We scored a try right at the end of the game, but we shouldn't have been behind at that stage like we were. We gave up some soft territory, some soft points and ultimately it cost us the game. As a team we have to expect to be better than that. As always w put quite a lot into the game and I wouldn't question our energy in any way, but our accuracy was as bad as I have seen.

"We made 30 errors and whilst Gloucester will say they made a lot as well, they made 22. In end it was an error-strewn game, but we came out on the wrong side of it and that's very disappointing."

Team news for the Chiefs ahead of tomorrow's trip sees Baxter re-jig his pack somewhat. Alex Brown comes in at tight-head for Hoani Tui, Don Armand makes his first Premiership start in the second-row alongside Damian Welch, and skipper Dean Mumm is switched to the back-row in place of Tom Johnson.

Behind, the experienced Steenson takes over at fly-half; Sam Hill partners Ian Whitten in the midfield and the back three has a new-look with Matt Jess joined by Fetu'u Vainikolo and Phil Dollman; whilst on the bench, Craig Mitchell and James Phillips also return to the fray.

Pictures: Exeter Rugby Club/Pinnacle Photo Agency