Chiefs team to face Harlequins
Exeter Chiefs welcome back Jack Nowell and Phil Dollman into their starting line-up for Sunday’s Aviva Premiership clash with Harlequins at Sandy Park (2pm).
Both Nowell and Dollman appeared off the bench in last week’s 25-22 win at Gloucester, but head coach Rob Baxter is keen to see the duo in action from the outset as the Chiefs look to record a third win in four starts this season.
England international Nowell has not started a league game since he injured a shoulder during Exeter’s defeat at Leicester Tigers last March, while Dollman has also had to sit on the sidelines for a few weeks after he picked up an ankle injury during the club’s pre-season win at Ulster.
The return of both men, however, is a major boost for the Chiefs, who will be looking to build off their victory at Kingsholm last time out.
Winning on the road has not been too much of a problem for Devon’s finest in recent times, but it’s on home soil where Baxter’s side have struggled to pick up the points.
Indeed, a concerning statistic for the Chiefs is that they have won just two of their last nine league game at home and only seven out of 17 matches in all competitions in the past 12 months.
Baxter needs little reminding of the fact and has urged his players to use their success at Gloucester as the launch pad for a full-on assault against Quins’ this weekend.
“I said to the boys during the week that at some stage we would have to come through a war and that it would be good for us,” said Baxter. “From being pretty comfortable at one stage last week, we somehow turned into a bit of a war for ourselves.
“For whatever reason, though, we managed to come through that war. Obviously I’m very pleased to do that and get the points. For some time now we’ve shown good fighting spirit away from home, but what we have to do now is transfer that into our home form and there is no better way to do that than against Harlequins on Sunday.
“As I said, I’m massively pleased with last week. Not only was it an important win, but it was four very important points for us. It shows if you collect a few points at the start of the season, you can be there or thereabouts around the top. What we have to do now is maintain that form for as long as we can.”
Certainly Baxter will be hoping his troops can produce a powerful display in battle, but knows the visitors will themselves offer a dangerous threat across the park.
“We know they are dangerous,” added Baxter. “They like to play a high tempo game, but they can also grind things out if necessary. They haven’t had the success they’ve had by being one dimensional. Obviously they’ve got a number of key players who can break the game open for them, so we’ll need to keep an eye on them.
“It’s like any game of rugby, they’ll have multiple threats and they will look to add something new to their game this weekend. That is what they are good at and they’ve chucked something unexpected at us and caught us a couple of times like that. All week we have talked about being alert and aware for 80 minutes. That’s always the challenge, but it always get tougher against the better teams.”
But whilst Baxter is keen to note the threat posed by the Londoners, he would rather look more at what his own side can offer, both in attack and defence.
“I think what we have done well this season - and also in pre-season - is focus on ourselves,” explained the Chiefs coach. “We’ve looked more at what we want to achieve and how we want to play, rather than worry too much about the opposition. That has worked well for us so far, so we’re not going to stray too far from that strategy.”
Bolstered by the return of players such as Nowell and Dollman, Baxter admits he has a wealth of riches to select from heading into the game.
“Having good players available is always a boost,” said Baxter. “Where we are different this season, compared to previous years, is we normally start with everyone available and slowly people get knocked off with injury.
“The difference this year was that we had a good squad available to train with at the start, then some of our new signings arrived and settled in, and now we’re getting those guys who have been injured or had operations over the summer coming back into the mix as well.
“I think by the time the next block of Premiership games come around, we’d hope to have everyone available, which is fantastic news for us. The positive right now is that we’re collecting points, we’re in a good position and over time the squad is only going to get stronger and stronger.
“This week we’ve got Phil Dollman and Jack Nowell back and it won’t be long before we get the likes of Dean Mumm, Dave Lewis and Luke Cowan-Dickie back into the mix. Also Tom James and Fetu’u Vainikolo have trained flat out this week, so we’re getting more competitive training sessions and the squad is looking a lot stronger.
“Right now I’m comfortable that we can ride the odd bump or bruise much easier than we would had done say a couple of weeks ago.”
Other changes to the Chiefs squad see Will Chudley promoted to the No.9 jersey in place of Haydn Thomas (concussion). Chudley’s elevation means there is a place on the bench for Aussie Pat Phibbs and he will be joined by the likes of Don Armand, Ian Whitten and James.
CHIEFS SQUAD TO FACE HARLEQUINS
15 Phil Dollman
14 Jack Nowell
13 Henry Slade
12 Sam Hill
11 Matt Jess
10 Gareth Steenson
9 Will Chudley
1 Ben Moon
2 Jack Yeandle (capt)
3 Tomas Francis
4 Mitch Lees
5 Damian Welch
6 Dave Ewers
7 Ben White
8 Thomas Waldrom
16 Elvis Taione
17 Carl Rimmer
18 Moray Low
19 Don Armand
20 Kai Horstmann
21 Pat Phibbs
22 Ian Whitten
23 Tom James
