Hepher relishing return to action
By Neale Harvey
26/1/21
Defiant Exeter head coach Ali Hepher believes his side are over their month from hell and are ready come out fighting in defence of their Premiership title.
Last season’s double-winners were hit by Covid in mid-December and nearly dumped out of Europe after their trip to Toulouse was scrapped, before they were then soundly beaten on successive weekends by ambitious title wannabes Wasps and Bristol.
Bristol, in particular, have made no secret of their burning desire to take down the Sandy Park outfit, but Hepher is backing his side to deliver a backlash despite the fact Chiefs expect to lose a number of key players during a match heavy Six Nations period.
Hepher told The Rugby Paper: “Coming into the new season we went really well and then flew into the Glasgow Champions Cup game, but then we hit a bit of Covid and it stopped us in our tracks – not being able to go to Toulouse was a huge disappointment.
“As a squad we felt ready to have a good shot at retaining that title so to have that almost pulled away from us felt pretty devastating at the time. It looks like we might be still in after all, but when Covid gets into your squad it’s quite hard to work your way out.
“With Covid, then Christmas and dealing with international rest periods because some players were on their limit, quick turnarounds, injuries and other bits of normal illness, it was quite a disrupted period going into the games against Wasps and Bristol.
“Our players are not robots; they’d played a lot of huge games and you can’t just reset them and stick them out there. Every season I’ve been here we’ve had an ‘emotional dump’ at some stage and we’ve always responded really positively to those setbacks.
“The league is so competitive, particularly with two sides like Wasps and Bristol because they’re after us, no question about that. They fully deserved their wins over us but, equally, we feel pretty confident that we’ve still got the ability to win big games.
“That’s the challenge, isn’t it? Everybody’s going to come after you but it’s good to be in the position we’re in because it means we know how to win big trophies now and if you’re the hunted it means you’ve been successful. These last couple of weeks have been good for us because we’ve had a chance to look at ourselves and reinforce our foundations.”
Eight league games during the Six Nations period will test the depth of sides to their limit but Hepher reveals Exeter are set to be boosted by returning stars.
He explained: “It’s an improving picture on injuries with Stuart Hogg, Facundo Cordero and Alex Cuthbert in the mix for Worcester this week, and then we’ve got Jack Nowell, Jannes Kirsten, Jacques Vermeulen and Ben Moon who aren’t far away either.
“Dave Ewers and Josh Hodge will be back and while there’s obviously going to be some movement week-to-week in terms of availability, we’re getting a lot of guys close to full fitness again and traditionally we’ve done well in international periods.”
Of the 17 Premiership title winners since play-offs began in 2003, only five have finished first the following season – a challenge Hepher is happy to accept now.
He added: “We lost at home to Bristol last year but that set us on our way for our European performances and we played so much better after that, just like we did after losing to Sale when we also pressed the reset button and played really well.
“We’ve debriefed since losing to Wasps and Bristol and, actually, when you analyse those games, there were lots of opportunities out there we just didn’t grab. It’s a question of being confident enough now to seek them out and put the ball into space.”