Armand says Chiefs have to kick on

Exeter Chiefs forward Don Armand has warned he and his team-mates can ill afford to “rest on their laurels” despite getting their Aviva Premiership campaign up and running with victory over London Irish on Saturday.

Having come unstuck in their seasonal opener away to Bath seven days earlier, the Devon club marked their competitive return to Sandy Park with a comfortable 38-11 success over the Exiles.

“We have standards we set for ourselves and we didn’t step up to them against Bath,” said Armand, who was among the try-scorers in Saturday’s success.

“We put in a lot of hard work, but didn’t convert the points. Last week was a frustrating result for us, but it was important being at Sandy Park – that set the tone – and considering where we want to go in our campaign, it was important we got back to winning ways.

“Saturday was a big test for the forwards to convert in those areas where we need to convert. We didn’t do that the previous week and were held up a few times and our mails weren’t that good.

“This time we put in some good performances, but we know we can’t rest on our laurels. We need to step it up again against Newcastle and keep the forwards game strong so the backs can do what they do because of the work we put in.”

Armand bagged his first try of the season during the opening half against Irish – and he was joined on the try-list by skipper Gareth Steenson, Luke Cowan-Dickie, James Short and Jack Nowell, the latter of whom helped himself to a brace on his return to club action.

As well as partially making up for the disappointment of slipping to defeat at Bath, Saturday's result also exorcised the demons of Exeter's two-point defeat away to Irish at the Madejski Stadium in January.

That day, Shane Geraghty scored a last-minute drop-goal to secure a dramatic 28-26 win over Rob Baxter's side.

This Sunday, the Chiefs have the chance to put another painful defeat from last term behind them when they travel north to Newcastle.

The Falcons won 29-24 against the Chiefs just over a year ago to end a 20-match losing streak which lasted 11 months.

And although Exeter return to Kingston Park on the back of a handsome win, Armand has warned against complacency when they head north.

"You always have to be careful of the underdog. Because of where they were in the table the last time we played them, it was seen like that," said Armand. "Complacency is something we have to be careful of this year, it is where we came short in a few games (last season).

"You don't want to keep looking in the past all the time though – it is a new year, a new competition and we are a new team,” continued Armand.

"You want to be looking forward rather than backwards so we will go up there with a fresh mindset, looking to continue with how we did against Irish and continuing with that rather than how we did against them last year.

"It can always come back to bite you if you focus on the wrong things so we will be focusing on the right mindset."