Team news: Chiefs travel to reigning Top14 champions Stade Toulousain

Tom Hooper will start in the second row for Exeter Chiefs against Stade Toulousain in the opening round of this season’s Investec Champions Cup competition.

The pool two match pits the Devon men against the reigning French Top14 champions at the Stadium de Toulouse. Chiefs have had an enforced change to the wing with Zack Wimbush starting in place of Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, who continues to monitor a hamstring injury.

Chiefs’ director of rugby Rob Baxter said: “There’s probably not many greater challenges than going away to Toulouse. Obviously, Bordeaux Begles were fantastic in this competition last season but probably the most consistent team over recent years has been Toulouse.

“They are one of those teams who continually turn up in both the European and domestic competitions, so it’s about as good as it gets. We had a good season last year and one of the drivers was getting back into the Champions Cup, so now you’ve got to embrace the challenge and try to improve by taking part while looking to be ultra-competitive.”

Following a profitable performance off the bench in last Sunday’s win over Newcastle Red Bulls, Will Goodrick-Clarke makes his first start of the season at loosehead prop.

Having made a combined 10 carries and 23 tackles against Newcastle, Jack Yeandle and Josh Iosefa-Scott pack down alongside Goodrick-Clarke. Tighthead prop Iosefa-Scott will lead the team out on his 100th all-time club appearance.

Wallabies’ Hooper made his anticipated return to Chiefs with a 23-minute performance last weekend, earning him the chance to test himself from kick-off in the second row with match captain Dafydd Jenkins.

The back-row is unchanged with Ethan Roots, Ross Vintcent and Greg Fisilau ready to face off againstt the likes of Jack Willis and Anthony Jelonch.

The half-back pairing is once more formed by Stephen Varney and Harvey Skinner while Will Butt lines up alongside Henry Slade in centre-field. A brand new back-three assembles with Tommy Wyatt and Zack Wimbush on the wings and Sam Harris at full-back.

Baxter added: “People will automatically think they’ll be all-singing, all-dancing, running tries in from everywhere. However, if you watch their last game, both Toulouse and Bayonne actually scored a lot of points from the pressure aspect of their game – going to the corner and looking for maul tries. It was quite an attritional game from that perspective.

“There’s more than one way to win games of rugby and Toulouse can certainly win them in a variety of ways. They’re very happy to roll their sleeves up and win them the hard way but they’ve also got the capabilities to open the game up and hurt you if you drop off.

“As with playing any good side, you’ve got to be aware of all aspects of their game. Try to give yourself as many opportunities to be in the game and score your own points where possible. We’ll need a much bigger defensive work-rate than last weekend, and I think if we can do that, then we are looking dangerous in attack. We’re creating try-scoring opportunities, we’re moving the ball well and our set-piece is functioning well. Those will give us some good foundation elements. There’s no reason why we can’t be competitive over large parts of this game.”

Hooker Louie Gulley prepares to face the French juggernauts in his European debut from the bench. He is selected with props Ethan Burger and Jimmy Roots. Harry Wilson prepares to play his first Investec Champions Cup match for Chiefs having previously represented Saracens in the competition. He joins Kane James in rounding out the pack’s reinforcements.

Ben Hammersley takes Wimbush’s vacated bench spot beside Sam Wolstenholme and Will Haydon-Wood.

The game kicks off at 16:15 in Toulouse [15:15 BST] on Sunday afternoon, broadcast live on Premier Sports TV. Live updates will also be available from our match centre.

Exeter Chiefs:

15 Sam Harris

14 Zack Wimbush

13 Henry Slade

12 Will Butt

11 Tommy Wyatt

10 Harvey Skinner

9 Stephen Varney

1 Will Goodrick-Clarke

2 Jack Yeandle

3 Josh Iosefa-Scott

4 Tom Hooper

5 Dafydd Jenkins (c)

6 Ethan Roots

7 Ross Vintcent

8 Greg Fisilau

Replacements:

16 Louie Gulley

17 Ethan Burger

18 Jimmy Roots

19 Harry Wilson

20 Kane James

21 Sam Wolstenholme

22 Will Haydon-Wood

23 Ben Hammersley