Chiefs side to face Scarlets in Heineken Cup

Exeter Chiefs head coach Rob Baxter believes experiencing the full-on demands of the Heineken Cup is helping develop his squad into a much stronger unit.

Although the Chiefs have suffered back-to-back defeats at the hands of European heavyweights Leinster and Clermont Auvergne in their opening two Pool 5 fixtures, Baxter insists the Devon club remain upbeat as they prepare to tackle Welsh region Scarlets on successive weekends in Europe's premier cup competition.

With both sides chasing their first wins in the competition this season, the Chiefs travel to West Wales brimming with confidence following a run of five successive victories in all competitions.

"We're in good shape," declared Baxter ahead of the trip to the Parc Y Scarlets. "We recently targeted that first away win in the Premiership against London Irish - which we got - we then targeted backing that up with a similar result against Wasps - which we did last weekend - and now the target for us is to get that first win in the Heineken Cup.

"The Scarlets, we know, are a good side with lots of threats right across their team. We've analysed their game this week and you can see they do like to play a driving game. For them it's not just about moving the ball to the backs off set-piece, this despite them having pretty much half the Welsh backline, their pack of forwards are also very useful and we have to be prepared to meet all those challenges."

Equally, though, the Chiefs are themselves a force to be reckoned with and having shown their qualities against both Leinster and Clermont in the earlier rounds, Baxter is hopeful that it could be a case of 'third time lucky' for his troops.

"I think what we've learnt as a side in Europe is that if you play with intensity; you play together; and you follow a game plan; we are a good side and can be very competitive against some of the best sides in Europe," said Baxter.

"At the same time, though, what we have also learnt is that if you slip off that intensity you will get hurt very quickly - and that is some of the toughest lessons you can learn within the game."

Clearly the Chiefs have been learning on the job as not only are they unbeaten in the LV= Cup, but they also find themselves in a much better position in the Aviva Premiership than they did this time 12 months ago.

"We never entered the Heineken Cup saying it is all about where we end up in the table," said the Chiefs coach. "What we said was that we will give it a real go in every game and that I want to make sure the players experience everything that can from the Heineken Cup.

"In some ways we have already succeeded on that front, maybe more than we first anticipated, because we gave it a real go in Dublin against Leinster; we played some real good rugby; we kept the ball well and we showed some real ambition which, on another day, could have seen us come away with a win.

"Against Clermont we then showed the same qualities, but had a bad 10-15 minutes where the game got ripped away from us. However, we have experienced some good things along the way and played in a very ambitious way throughout. I think had we tried to play in a damage limitation mode, we may not have seen the same progression. Instead I think we have moved on us a team and that has helped us be in a much better position than we were at this time last year."

Baxter continued: "Another thing we have to remember is that last year we had a World Cup and that has not been the case this time round. It's been more full-on this year and the competition in the Premiership is definitely a lot tighter. As I said, the Heineken Cup has been good for us, but we need to make sure these next two Heineken Cup games [against the Scarlets] are good for us and improve us as a team."

Team news for the Chiefs ahead of tomorrow's game sees Baxter tinker his winning line-up slightly with recalls in the pack for Simon Alcott, Hoani Tui, Damian Welch and Tom Johnson; whilst behind Gonzalo Camacho and Sireli Naqelevuki are also included from the outset.

For the full team line up see http://www.exeterchiefs.co.uk/news/chiefs-side-to-face-scarlets/