Dollman seeks home comforts

By Nick Warren

Phil Dollman hopes Exeter Chiefs’ improved form this season can see them turn around their fortunes at Sandy Park.

Last Friday’s 25-22 win at Gloucester kept Rob Baxter’s men fourth in the Aviva Premiership.

However, they have only won two of their last nine league games at home and seven out of 17 matches in all competitions in the last 12 months.

Dollman, who returned to action at Kingsholm, knows home form is important if the Chiefs want to get back into the top six, having finished eighth last term.

But he does not want the players to get too bogged down with their record at Sandy Park, and hopes they rely on their performances instead to get them back on track.

“Generally in 2014 our standards have improved so hopefully that’ll take care of itself,” said Dollman. “We’ll try not to worry about our home form too much and let it get on top of us, but it’s an important part of being a team in the Premiership – you’ve got to have a strong home performance if you’re looking to do well in the league.

“We need to improve that but generally our performances have improved and hopefully that’ll pass onto our home performances. The support down there and the new facilities are pretty impressive so we want to perform to the same sort of level.”

The Chiefs welcome Harlequins to Sandy Park on Sunday for their fourth match of the campaign, and Dollman knows they will have to be on their guard defensively.

That area of their game has looked more secure this season, but the Welshman thinks last week’s match against Gloucester can serve as a reminder that they cannot afford to switch off for a moment.

Dollman said: “We’re pretty happy with the way we defended, you’ve just got to be on your mettle the whole game against Gloucester. With a lot of teams in the Premiership you’ve got to keep your eye on the ball the whole 80 minutes or they can turn you around and score.

“Harlequins enjoy a quick tempo game, which is something we enjoy as well, so the game could get broken up and then the dangerous runners will come into it. Hopefully we’ll have dangerous runners on the pitch as well who can equally hurt them.”

Dollman was not the only player to make his comeback from injury last week as Jack Nowell was also a replacement in the victory.

That adds more competition to the squad, but the 29-year-old faces a fight to secure a place in the midfield as Sam Hill and Henry Slade have been winning rave reviews for their performances to date.

The former Newport Gwent Dragons ace has been impressed with the way the youngsters have played this term. And he said they are helping to raise standards throughout the squad.

“Those guys have come on leaps and bounds,” he said of Hill and Slade. “You could always see it in the young lads when they were coming through as young academy guys but at the start of this season they’ve really proved the point.

“They’re looking dangerous in attack as well as effective in defence. They’ve played together a lot at 10 and 12 which helps them move into the centres together, and they’re not afraid to switch from 12 to 13 and they can both do it effectively.

“They’re putting a real stamp down in the squad, they’re setting a standard that everyone else has to follow and try to improve on. Hopefully that goes across the squad, with young guys understanding it and the new guys picking up our style of play pretty quickly.”