By Jack Sanderson
Exeter Chiefs will be looking to carry their successful two-week break in the Champions Cup back into the Premiership, after victories over Toulon in France and Munster at Sandy Park. The Chiefs are full of fire in their return to league action, in their first game back since their disappointing 41-24 loss away to Bath at the start of December.
Exeter come into this weekend’s game after an impressive 32-24 win against Munster last Sunday, coming from 19-10 down at half time to win the game with three tries in sixteen minutes. Henry Slade’s 78th minute try meant that Rob Baxter’s men have started their first block of Champions cup games unbeaten.
Leicester Tigers come to Sandy Park in similar form, having beaten Stormers comfortably at home and edging a three point win against Stade Francais in their two Champions Cup openers. Both sides sit next to each other in the table, with the Chiefs in sixth, just three points ahead of the Tigers, setting Saturday up to be a mouthwatering clash.
With some incredible results in recent weeks, the mood around the Chiefs camp is at a high, with players and coaches alike revelling in their recent form. Exeter Chiefs Head Coach Ali Hepher praised his side’s mentality, and the incredible togetherness of the club after a triumphant couple of weeks.
“To come through two games over the last couple of weeks like we did has been great, it’s been great for spirit. Because of how young some of the guys are, they don’t always realise how good they are at times. In both games it took us a little bit of time to understand that if we keep doing what we’re good at, we’ll create opportunities and cause sides trouble.
“Sometimes going through that experience, a lot of the guys have never played away in Toulon, and then playing against a strong Munster side at home, for them to come through it, they’ll take huge confidence from it and hope we can kick on in the Premiership.
“There’s a lot of long time mates within our side, a lot of them have grown up together and a lot of them are experiencing this all for the first time together. We’ve always pushed that if you’re playing with fourteen other mates, you’re going to push yourself that little bit harder so it’s really pleasing to see how they are going.
“All we’ve asked from them is to give absolutely everything at the weekend and then we’ll make improvements along the way, and those guys are grabbing it with both hands and they are improving each week, but equally they know how to get on together and they have a good time socially both at the club and away from the club, so it’s a great feeling.”
Exeter’s win at Sandy Park last Sunday extended their unbeaten record at home to 22 games. The last time they lost at home was on the 22nd of October 2022 when they lost 22-20 to Saracens. Since then, they have won 21 games and drawn once at Sandy Park. Ali Hepher had his say on what makes the Chiefs click on home soil.
“I mean I don’t know exactly what it is. We’d like to carry that on, certainly into the Premiership, away from home. We’ve performed pretty well away from home in Europe with the win at Castres last year and obviously in Toulon, but in the Premiership we haven’t been as successful as we’d want.
“The home form, I think the guys really enjoy performing in front of the crowd, the crowd brings an extra edge to it. The feedback from the fans has been that they just love seeing the guys give a hundred percent on a match day and throw themselves into the game and sacrifice everything
“It’s not chasing the wins that’s the key thing there, it’s just absolutely emptying your heart and spirit into the game and you take what comes as a result of that and I think we’ve been doing that at home. There’s a great connection with the local area and the fans, and the guys really enjoy performing here, but we’ve also got to work on that away form and try and knock a few of them in in the Premiership, and then suddenly it changes your whole Premiership season if you can do that.”
With Sandy Park recently being redeveloped to increase the capacity from its original 10,750 to now holding 15,600, this weekend’s game against Leicester is looking like a sell out and therefore could be the biggest attendance in history at Sandy Park, on track to beat the 14,100 that came to see the Chiefs beat Bristol Bears 19-13 on New Year’s Day in 2022. Ali Hepher voiced his approval of the progression of the club and how important such a big crowd will be for his side in beating the Tigers this weekend.
“The progress of the club has been amazing over the time I’ve been here, but even before that, coming up to Sandy Park and the extensions and the growth of the club and like you say now, getting to the stage where it’s a new barrier we’re knocking over which is fantastic.
“But as I say, what we’ve got to do on the field is give those guys something to get behind, show that emotion and show that heart and spirit, so that they can jump on board and drive us forward to victory.”
Leicester Tigers sit in seventh in the Premiership, just three points behind the Chiefs, having won four and lost four. After a tough start to the season, sitting on just one win from their opening five games, the Tigers have had a recent resurgence in form, winning three in a row in the league and five in a row in all competitions. This run of form is something that Hepher and the Chiefs are well aware of.
“They’re on the rise since the World Cup, they got their World Cup guys back, they’ve picked up performances, and they’re changing their style of play slightly, but the ultimate thing is that the set piece battle is obviously key. When we’re attacking they have threats to our ball on the floor so we’ve got to be on point and make sure we’re smart in the way we approach things.
“They’re a top quality side, lots of them were champions a couple of years ago so we’re under no illusions about the quality they’ll bring. What we’ve got to do is keep focusing on ourselves and making sure that we rise to the occasion and we get excited and put in our best performance on the field”.
This weekend’s game marks the halfway point of the 2023/2024 Premiership season, with Leicester being the final team Exeter have left to play for the first time this season. With 23 points on the board, 239 points scored, and sitting just four points off league leaders Sale Sharks, the Chiefs have had a bright first half of the season, something that Hepher was sure to point out.
“They’re ahead of the curve that we set out for them at the start of the season. We didn’t really put any specifics to that but we obviously knew it was a young group, a lot of guys coming into there, almost going to have to play a lot of rugby in their first Premiership season so it was a little bit of the unknown.
“The pleasing thing is that they’ve been able to improve along the way and make strides, but also week in week out they’ve turned up with high quality performances and a high level of effort. So we’d say we’re ahead of the curve but equally there’s probably a few frustrations there and it’s a little bit of that belief scenario that we could have won a couple of those away games.
“We’re in a good place, we’re learning in Europe as we have done these past two weeks but also the Premiership is our bread and butter and it’s come round pretty quickly that we’re at the halfway stage and you’ve got to start making your move so they are important games over Christmas as you’re getting close to the end of the season.”
Hepher knows this weekend’s opponents well, having last played against them as a player for Northampton back in an East Midlands derby in 1999. His side were victorious by a 46-24 scoreline, and he recanted his memories from that game almost 25 years ago.
“You always remember the big games, and they were a top side back then. They went on to win the league that year and we went on to win the European Cup so they were obviously a top quality side. 1999 was obviously a World Cup year, so they had a few players missing and we managed to get a win early in that season which got the ball rolling for us and we obviously pushed through into Europe.
“East Midlands derbies were always quite exciting and were always the games you looked forward to. They’ve always been a top quality tough opposition and nothing has changed now. But there was always a special effort from a Northampton boy going up against Leicester and it will always be a great rivalry.”
At the start of the 2023/24 season, the Chiefs signed inside centre Joe Hawkins from Ospreys. The move sparked a lot of controversy, as his decision to move to Devon meant he was making himself ineligible to play for Wales, due to the fact that he has played only five test matches.
Any Wales hopeful is required to have played at least 25 times for the national team to continue their international career outside of the country, and Hawkins’ decision was reinforced due to the fact he was highly underpaid ahead of his move. His transfer to Exeter will now allow him to progress his rugby career to the next level, and he is currently loving his time in the South West.
“Loving it so far, everything’s been amazing, the coaches have been amazing, the boys have been amazing. I think it’s been a bit easier for me than what it is normally for boys coming in because so many boys moved on. I think a lot of the senior boys moved on after last season, so coming into a young group, the transition has been a lot easier.”
Hawkins was nailed on to be a part of the Wales side going to the World Cup in September after a solid Six Nations campaign, but due to his move to Exeter, that dream wasn’t one he could achieve. However, he was full of praise towards his Nation’s side on their World Cup campaign.
“I was enjoying watching the boys, it was nice watching the lads representing the country. I was really happy for all the boys and how they went, obviously it was a tough Six Nations but to come together like they did and put in a decent World Cup campaign was amazing to watch.
“Don’t get me wrong, it would be nice to play for Wales, but I’m only 21, I’ve got plenty of years ahead of me and potentially the opportunity to maybe do it again in the future, but like I said I’m just enjoying being here.”