Stage set for Armand to deliver

By Mark Stevens
27/5/2016

Already it’s been a week to remember for Don Armand, but the Exeter forward aims to cap it all tomorrow by helping the Chiefs lift the Aviva Premiership final at Twickenham (3pm).

Victory over Wasps in the play-off semi-final kickstarted events for Armand, who on was then named as one five players from the Devon club selected to be part of the England Saxons tour to South Africa next month.

Add into the mix he recently picked up the Supporters’ Player of the Year crown and was on the shortlist for the Premiership’s Player of the Year accolade, it’s fair to say the 27-year-old has plenty of reasons to be cheerful.

This weekend, though, Armand’s sole focus will be on helping the Chiefs plot the downfall of reigning Premiership champions Saracens in the division’s end of season showpiece event.

Understandably, the Harare-born forward is relishing the opportunity of trying to help Rob Baxter’s side create history, but knows the task of downing the current European champions will be no easy task.

“It’s important to realise that we can’t let the occasion get the better of us,” said Armand. "It's the biggest game of my career and many of the boys’, but it's just another game in the simple form of things, so we've got to keep that in the back of our mind and remember that we've got to do the basics.

"It's not going to be completely new but it's a completely different scenario in terms of the occasion. It's a big stadium with a lot of people in it and some of the guys have played there before, but I think this will be on a whole new level. I think we've got to make sure we treat it like we treat every other game, though."

Although Saracens - who have defeated the Chiefs twice already this season in the league - will head into the game as pre-match favourites, the former Stormers star says there is no reason why he and his team-mates cannot prosper in this latest match-up.

The Chiefs have demonstrated throughout the previous 23 rounds of competition that they have the credentials to mix it with the very best the English game has to offer, so Armand is hoping for more of the same against the Londoners this weekend.

Just how hard the team have worked was underlined during the second half of last weekend’s victory over Wasps, a result which sparked wild celebrations at the final whistle at Sandy Park.

“You realise the graft the boys had to go through by the reactions at the end,” added Armand. ‘I have heard lots of comments saying there were a lot of celebrations just for winning a semi-final, but I think they have missed the point.

“I think it was just appreciating the work we have put in and Rob has always pushed us to show emotion, so I think that is exactly what we did.”

Whatever the outcome tomorrow, Armand will then be bracing himself to head home to Africa as part of a Saxons squad who will face South Africa A in two fixtures.

His call-up is just reward for an outstanding season, but Armand doesn’t want to look too far ahead at this stage, insisting tomorrow’s final rests uppermost in his thoughts.

He continued: “It’s quite hard to be able to focus on the tour when I have a final to think about, but’s it’s been good to get a few things on social media and get the call up. However, the job that needs to be done is on Saturday first and then I can start thinking about everything else after that.

“It is going to be very exciting and it is always nice to be able to take some of the guys back and show them some of the things that you’ve been talking about since you got here.

“It will be interesting to see them surrounded by guys with accents like mine and we can mock them instead of it being the other way round because I had two or three years of that here! I’m looking forward to that.”