Chiefs side to face Irish

By Mark Stevens

Exeter Chiefs return to Aviva Premiership action this weekend with head coach Rob Baxter calling on his side to "show their ambition" at the Madejski Stadium.

After a solid enough opening in the top flight, the Devon club travel to London Irish on Sunday (3pm) looking not only to maintain their pace with the division's frontrunners, but at the same time collect their first away in the Premiership this term.

So far Baxter's side have been impervious on home soil, seeing off the likes of Sale Sharks, Saracens, Harlequins and Worcester Warriors with some notable displays.  The problem has been, however, on the road where they have failed to hit the same dynamic heights and have come unstuck at locations such as London Welsh, Northampton Saints Leicester Tigers and Bath.

It is an area the Chiefs are keen to address and having used the recent LV= Cup competition to not only rest a number of their frontline soldiers, but also give other squad members the chance to shine, the winning formula has been extended with back-to-back victories in the Cup over London Welsh (away) and Ospreys (home) following up the Worcester win.

"We've had two good performances, we've used our squad well, and the right guys have got game time and the right guys have had rest," said Baxter. "We are a little disappointed with the way we have performed away from home this season so far, but we've had a break from the Premiership and we've had a chance to freshen things up and look at a bigger group of players.

"Now we've got to say 'what's been has been in the Premiership so far, we've got a decent foundation, now let's start talking about playing in a manner that will potentially drive us up the table.'

"It's not that big a break from rugby, they have been training well so there won't be any excuses from us. I'm expecting us to go up there and perform really well. If there is a potential for rustiness, I'm expecting the energy that we bring and enthusiasm we bring to outweigh any negatives.

"I think we're looking forward to going there and looking to perform to a higher level in an away game than we have achieved so far this season and back up what has been good home form with a good away performance in the Premiership."

Last season the Chiefs showed they were more than capable of winning regularly on the road, claiming the scalps of established teams such as Gloucester, Leicester, Sale, Wasps, Newcastle and Worcester.

Baxter is keen for that formula to be rediscovered against an Irish side, who have triumphed in the two previous meetings between the clubs at the Reading venue.

"It was around about this time last year that we sat down as a team and said we were solid and doing OK and thought about what we were going to try to achieve," said Baxter. "We did that maybe a little bit after Christmas last year, this year we are starting to talk about it a little bit earlier.

"Ambitious teams have to target games at this time of the year to establish the number of points you need to push on. We will go up there absolutely flat out looking to put in a big performance and get after it.

"When we do that we are a good side. When we go away from home and have a bit of a look at the opposition and take a while to settle, we look edgy and shaky sometimes. We talked a lot about trying to make the game about ourselves, I'm sure that is what London Irish will be doing as well, so that is the battle to be won.

"We know London Irish are a good side but we know that when we perform to a high level and hit somewhere near our potential we're a very good side, we can play a lot of rugby and score some good tries."

Not surprisingly the Chiefs welcome back a large percentage of those players who have sat out the last two weeks of action. One man who remains from the LV squad is that of youngster Jack Nowell, who will make his first-ever Premiership start on the right wing.

The Cornishman (pictured), a product of the club's blossoming Academy, produced two excellent performances against London Welsh and Ospreys and has been duly rewarded with a starting spot as Argentine winger Gonzalo Camacho is away on international duty.

That said, Baxter was quick to praise his whole squad - particularly those on Cup duty - for their recent endeavours. He added: "I think everybody has impressed me and it has been a little bit difficult to select the side, primarily because we went into the LV= Cup games on the back of a good performance against Worcester. Those guys are on form and have played a lot of good rugby for us.

"The way we work here is that if you work to earn ownership of the shirt and you keep it unless someone rips it away from you. However, there will be one or two changes to the squad based on LV= Cup performances."

Meanwhile, those included on the bench are prop Hoani Tui, who has now recovered fully from his hamstring injury; flanker Tom Johnson, who was released from England duty earlier this week; and Fijian powerhouse Sireli Naqelevuki who is also back from international duty.

CHIEFS SIDE TO FACE LONDON IRISH

15 Luke Arscott
14 Jack Nowell
13 Phil Dollman
12 Jason Shoemark
11 Matt Jess
10 Gareth Steenson
9 Haydn Thomas
1 Brett Sturgess
2 Chris Whitehead
3 Carl Rimmer
4 Tom Hayes (capt)
5 James Hanks
6 Dean Mumm
7 James Scaysbrook
8 Richard Baxter

16 Simon Alcott
17 Ben Moon
18 Hoani Tui
19 Aly Muldowney
20 Tom Johnson
21 Kevin Barrett
22 Ignacio Mieres
23 Sireli Naqelevuki