Euro test excites White
By Mark Stevens
16/12/17
Nic White believes there will be a response of sorts from the Exeter Chiefs when they take to the field against Leinster at the Aviva Stadium today.
Rob Baxter’s side slipped to their first European defeat of the season a week ago when the Irish province became the first side in a year to win at fortress Sandy Park.
Leinster’s 18-8 success in Devon not only put the three-time champions six points clear at the top of Pool 3, but gave them the perfect fillip ahead of this afternoon’s second instalment in Dublin.
Aussie scrum-half White felt the Chiefs played their part in an absorbing contest last time out, but acknowledged having felt the full force of Leo Cullen’s men a step up in standards will be needed in the Irish capital.
“We’re not a million miles away from playing well, last week we were just a bit off,” said White. “Credit to Leinster, they caused us problems and they put us under pressure to make those errors. Now we know what that feels like, the ball is in our court to make things stick.
“As I said, we know what is coming at us this week, hopefully we can fix it up and get a result.”
With a crowd of 40,000 expected to pack in for today’s contest, White feels the ’them against us’ feel will help to focus us the mind for the travelling Chiefs.
“Whenever you go away from home, it narrows the mind, narrows the focus,” added White. “At home you have the crowd and the excitement to go out there and do them proud. Over there, it tightens the focus. It will be 23 of us against the whole stadium, so that will help.
“In terms of playing and game plan, I don’t think we needed to change a lot. We’ll be better for the intensity that Leinster showed in that first game and we now know where we need to be get a win. We’ve done it before, just look at the Montpellier result, so it’s not impossible and we’ll give it every chance.”
White will line-up in a Chiefs line-up that shows a handful of changes from that which took to the field at Sandy Park.Up front, Ben Moon, Tomas Francis and Sam Skinner are all included, while behind international duo Jack Nowell and Lachie Turner are also in from the outset.
Otherwise, it’s ‘as you were’ for the visitors and White, who says there is real excitement within the Exeter camp ahead of kick-off.
“We’re not here to make up the numbers, we’re here to win the big games,” continued White. “It’s an exciting challenge for all of us and all week there has been a real feel of excitement amongst the group. Now we have to go out and show everyone what we are all about.”