Chiefs side to face Clermont

 

By Mark Stevens

Exeter Chiefs head coach Rob Baxter says his side are relishing the opportunity of entering into the bear-pit atmosphere of the Stade Marcel Michelin looking to overcome French giants Clermont Auvergne in their latest Heineken Cup assignment tomorrow (7pm CET).

After back-to-back victories over the Scarlets last month, the Chiefs now face easily the toughest test in European rugby as they lock horns with their star-studded hosts in their penultimate Pool 5 fixture.

Clermont, not only have a proverbial 'Who's Who' of international faces to select from, but their 53-game unbeaten home record provides an equally daunting challenge for the visiting Devonians to overcome.

It is, however, a challenge that Baxter and his team are keen to take on in this their first-ever season in the Heineken Cup.

"We're very aware it's possibly one of the toughest away trips the club has ever faced," said Baxter. "But what is the Heineken Cup for if it's not for this kind of experience. We have talked this week about it being a fantastic opportunity for all of us and people will talk about this game for some time if we can go over there and win. At the same time, if we lose, it's what everybody expects.

"I'm not overly concerned about the game itself, I know we've prepared well this week and as long as we look to move forward that is one of our key aims. Not everything we've done this week is specifically about the Clermont game; we do things on a week by week basis that look to improve us. As always we'll look to learn from the things we do wrong, but I also know we will go to France this week and put in a big energetic performance. When that happens, I know we are a good and tough side to beat."

Having suffered their first loss of the season on home soil to the Frenchmen back in October, the Chiefs know their hosts - who defeated reigning champions Leinster back to back last month - will again be formidable foes.

The Aviva Premiership club have again viewed closely their display in the 46-12 loss at Sandy Park - and Baxter is hopeful lessons have been learnt, especially after the two sides were locked at 12-all at the interval.

"I think what we learned from that game is that if you don't tackle them, they'll run in tries against you," said the Chiefs coach. "I think we learnt the hard way that night. That said, when we controlled possession in the game, we looked dangerous and caused them one or two problems.

"As I said, we've looked at the game again this week and for 50 minutes we were very much in the game. It was kind of ironic that the try that changed the game was pretty soft, as the ball shot out the side of one of our attacking rucks, they pounced on the loose ball and then set up for a guy to have a clear run in on the blind-side. That hurt us a little bit and we didn't really recover quickly enough from that.

"Also we ended up finishing the game with both of our nines injured and people not in recognised positions. A side like Clermont will expose that sort of things and they showed just how dangerous they could be.

"We will go over there this weekend knowing what we have to do, but there are lots of teams who have gone there knowing what to do, but still come unstuck. An element of our plan has to be to try and get in their faces, break them up as much as we can, whilst at the same time trying to force our game on them. That's the challenge for us, so we'll see how we go."

The Chiefs will head into the game having not won in their last three Premiership fixtures, the last of which was Saturday's first loss in the league at Sandy Park to visiting Northampton Saints.

Despite the setback, Baxter remains positive that his side is continuing to show signs of improvement and that it is only "small margins" which are ultimately costing his side.

"I'm pretty pleased with the bones of our game right now," said Baxter. "To go to Gloucester and lose by two points in a performance that we were happy with, yet someone else's we weren't quite so happy with, made it a difficult result to stomach. Also we had the late draw against Bath, which was tough, but I can't say there are things massively wrong with our game because there isn't. We've come up a little bit short in a couple of games recently, so we'll just work hard and look to come through them better in the future."

A head injury to scrum-half Haydn Thomas means the Chiefs were forced to make at least one change to their line-up from that which took to the field against the Saints. Kevin Barrett steps up to fill the void with Will Chudley named on the replacements bench for the first time since injuring his shoulder against Clermont.

Other changes see Jason Shoemark return in the centre in place of Ian Whitten, whilst skipper Tom Hayes (pictured) returns to partner James Hanks in the second-row. Hayes' elevation means Aussie international Dean Mumm drops to the bench, as does Whitten in place of Fijian star Sireli Naqelevuki.


CHIEFS TEAM TO FACE CLERMONT AUVERGNE

15 Luke Arscott
14 Gonzalo Camacho
13 Phil Dollman
12 Jason Shoemark
11 Matt Jess
10 Gareth Steenson
9 Kevin Barrett
1 Ben Moon
2 Neil Clark
3 Hoani Tui
4 Tom Hayes (capt)
5 James Hanks
6 Tom Johnson
7 James Scaysbrook
8 Richard Baxter

16 Jack Yeandle
17 Carl Rimmer
18 Craig Mitchell
19 Aly Muldowney
20 Dean Mumm
21 Will Chudley
22 Ignacio Mieres
23 Ian Whitten