Welch Determined to Bounce Back

Damian Welch says it’s vital he and his Exeter Chiefs team-mates are “on their game” when they play host to Gloucester in the Aviva Premiership tomorrow (3pm).

A week after the Chiefs were mauled 45-15 by the Leicester Tigers in their own Welford Road den, Rob Baxter’s side not only need to address issues from that setback, but at the same time rediscover their winning formula as the season heads towards the finishing line.

With the make-up of next season’s European competition becoming a little clearer for clubs and supporters alike, Devon’s finest know they need to starting accruing the points that will get them into the all-important top six.

Currently the Chiefs are 11 points adrift of sixth-placed Harlequins with just five league games remaining. Three of those fixtures, however, are at home and Welch and Co know they must make the most of home advantage.

“The games left are like cup finals, especially when you are pushing for that top-six place. At this stage of the season, we can’t afford to take our foot off the gas,” said the towering second-row. “I feel like we let ourselves down a bit against Leicester. Take nothing away from them, they are a great side, but we knew the challenges we would face going there.

“To a certain extent, we recognise the Leicester game as a blip, rather than an indicator of where we are as a team. We don’t need to dwell on it too much, we know we didn’t play very well and did things wrong.

“The good news is that we understand what went wrong, there is nothing there we aren’t capable of doing, so we’re hoping it is fairly easy to rectify. This weekend is a good chance to get ourselves back on that path of playing well. We want to get our set-piece back to where it needs to be.”

Certainly the Chiefs have shown in recent weeks that they are more than capable of producing the goods with wins over star-studded Bath and Northampton line-ups in the LV= Cup testament to that very fact.

Welch added: “The LV= Cup proved that we can compete with the top sides on big occasions. The Saints team we beat that day were very strong. Bath were tough before that as well. There are no easy games in the Premiership, they are all tough to beat.

“We need to be up on our game, otherwise we will experience the same things that happened to us at Leicester last weekend."

And with both sides this weekend known for their attacking rugby, Welch expects this latest match-up with the Cherry and Whites to be an equally entertaining game.

He said: “We like to play on hard grounds, we feel like running rugby will be easier now and that suits us. There are no excuses for us now, there are five big games left and we want to win them.

“Both sides have got a very attacking ethos and I really think it will be a good game of rugby this weekend. “They are one of those teams that have threats across the board. They have good ball-carriers in their pack and lightning quick backs to run the ball as well. The whole team have to defend well against Gloucester.”

Picture: Exeter Rugby Club/Pinnacle Photo Agency