Focus is all on Gloucester, says Kai

By David Byrom
6/10/16

Kai Horstmann says Exeter Chiefs are only focusing on their next game, despite the fact the European Champions Cup is on the horizon.

The Chiefs take on Gloucester this weekend in the last Premiership game before the European break.

However, Horstmann says that there can be no talk of games against Clermont Auvergne and Ulster prior to this weekend's clash, especially after last Friday's one-point defeat to Northampton.

The back row said: "I think, at any stage in a season, a Premiership win is massive. We cherish any Premiership game we play in and we've got to make the most of it.

"There's certainly not been any talk about what's coming after the Gloucester game and we've always been a side that focuses on the next big event.

"It's a hugely important game for us as it's at Sandy Park and also because it's a Premiership game.

"I don't think we're ever a club that will start getting panicky about things or looking too far ahead – any Premiership game we play in is an important game.

"Any Premiership game we play in at home is a massively important game, as we've got a decent record at home and we love it when the fans get behind us. It's a big game, because it's a Premiership game at Sandy Park."

Last week's game at Franklin's Gardens was Horstmann's first Chiefs start January this year and the 35-year-old said he was relatively pleased with how he performed.

He said: "I was relatively pleased with my overall performance, as I got through a fair amount of work and kept busy through the night.

"I was pretty pleased with it but it tends to be overshadowed a bit when you don't get what you set out to get. I was certainly feeling it a bit on Saturday morning but I was pleased with my personal performance to a degree."

Horstmann says it is now about bouncing back against the Cherry & Whites after such a narrow defeat.

"I was hugely frustrated with the outcome, really," he said. "The way we started the game in a very positive light was encouraging, and we put a big focus on that, but to ship 14 points in a couple of minutes was massively frustrating when we'd done a lot of hard work in those first 20 minutes to put 13 points on the scoreboard.

"So it was a frustrating night, as I think if we'd got a few more things right, we would have come away with more points.

"When you sit down and look at the game, we got a huge amount of stuff right that we talked about getting right. Frustratingly, the things we take as bread and butter that's been working well for us didn't really function.

"It's definitely about bouncing back, as the guys hungry to get on the field again – when you lose a tight one like that, the heads are down in the changing room a little bit, so we're pretty eager to play Gloucester at Sandy Park this weekend."