Chiefs duo fly flag for Irish

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By Mark Stevens
9/4/2016

There may be no Irish province in the knock-out stages of the Champions Cup, but there is a strong Ulster presence in the Exeter Chiefs side hoping to stay on course for a first final this season.

Gareth Steenson will fill the No 10 jersey against Wasps at the Ricoh Arena this weekend and Ian Whitten will play outside him in the centre. Both players have become key figures at a club that has exceeded all expectations since climbing out of the Championship into the Aviva Premiership in 2010.

Steenson was in on the ground floor, kicking the Chiefs to victory after victory but Whitten, the two-times capped Irish international, has made his presence felt over the past four years since joining the club from Ulster in 2012.

"It was a bit of a leap in the dark when I joined the Chiefs. I didn't know much about Exeter when I arrived, but I have to say the club is brilliant and so are the players," said Whitten. "It is well run from top down and it has been a really enjoyable four years with, hopefully, more success to come."

Having won the LV= Cup in 2014, the Chiefs have reached their first Champions Cup quarter-final this season and currently sit in second place in the Premiership table, seemingly on course for a home semi-final. Could Whitten and Steenson (pictured), therefore, find himself heading to two major finals this season?

"The first thing I have to worry about is getting into the team, rather than dreaming of anything else. We are a good defensive team, and a good all round team, and we've got to go up to Coventry and believe in ourselves," he added.

"You don't get the chance to play in many game of this stature, so you have to savour them and make the most of the opportunities. It's going to be a special one-off game in front of a massive crowd - we'll get a buzz out of that.

"We will have to be good defensively against Wasps because they love to throw it about. We went up there and won in the Premiership, 41-27, and that was a great result for us, but they are probably playing a bit better now and it will be all about us stopping them."

The Chiefs are the only team in the last eight who hasn't reached the European Cup final before, but there is still plenty of experience in their squad. Ex-England No 8 Thomas Waldrom, British & Irish Lions lock Geoff Parling and Aussie flanker Julian Slavi have all had knock-out experience with Leicester Tigers and Whitten himself got a taste of quarter-final action in Europe with Ulster before he left.

"I didn't really play much in the 2011 quarter-final against Northampton Saints in Milton Keynes, but I got a taste of it. I am really excited about this weekend," said Whitten.

"The old Leicester players, who have been there and done that, will bring their experience to the occasion and it will be great for the team and for the club to paly at this level. I just hope we do ourselves justice.

"We have worked really hard to put ourselves in such a good position, so let's g out and enjoy it. We have earned the right to be here, so now we need to have really good go at it."

Whitten, like every young rugby player in Ireland, was weaned on the old Heineken Cup. Like so many others, he was in Dublin the day Ulster won the European Cup against Colomiers at Lansdowne Road.

The memories of that great day have remained with him throughout his career and the prospect of following in the footsteps of players like David Humphreys, Andy Ward, Simon Mason and Johnny Bell will no doubt inspire him this weekend.

"I was only 11 in 1999 when I went down to Lansdowne Road with my Dad and uncle - everyone went, it was a sea of red and white. We had to stop on the way because my uncle wanted to go to the toilet and all the cars and coaches that passed us gave him a honk on their horns," recalled Whitten.

"I don't remember much about the game, but I do remember getting on the pitch at the end and everyone going mad. That was a special moment and a special time.

"It was such a momentous event and those Ulster players have gone down in history as the first Irish team to win the European Cup. It has been hard for Ulster ever since then.

"In a way Ulster are still trying to emulate that great day and there is a lot of pressure on the players back home. They were in the final in 2012, but what happened in 1999 hangs over them and gives them pressure that they don't really need,

"The first time you get to play in the European Cup it is really special because the Irish teams all make a big deal out of it. The Pool matches are the glamour fixtures of the season, but it is different in the Premiership, where every league game is so big."