Team news: Baxter names Chiefs for first game of 2024

Rob Baxter has made five changes to his starting line-up for Chiefs’ Gallagher Premiership Round Eleven home clash with Northampton Saints on Saturday, January 6.

The 2024 calendar year debuts with a big clash as Baxter’s second place Chiefs take on table-toppers, Phil Dowson’s Saints.

Nika Abuladze at loosehead and Josh Iosefa-Scott at tighthead retain their places with veteran Jack Yeandle rotating back into the side to start at hooker between the two.

Another rotation occurs in the second row as Rusi Tuima and Lewis Pearson trade places – the former moving to the bench to allow for the latter starting alongside Dafydd Jenkins.

After impressing off the bench against Bristol Bears, Jacques Vermeulen is returned to the starting line-up in a back row which also features Ethan Roots and Greg Fisilau.

Stu Towsend and Harvey Skinner remain in place as the half-back duo. Joe Hawkins reclaims the 12 shirt to partner Henry Slade in the centre as Ollie Devoto moves to the bench.

Immanuel Feyi-Waboso starts on the wing with Ben Hammersley moving into the opposite wing spot to allow for Tommy Wyatt’s return at fullback.

Director of Rugby Rob Baxter is happy with the environment his squad have created and the mindset they are approaching each training week and game with. He says this week will be a test of Chiefs’ resilience following a win for Saints against his Exeter men earlier in the season.

“I think this group are training very well – they’ve maintained a pace, an intensity and a vibe around training for a number of weeks, so now they’re reaping the rewards of that with more consistent performances.”

“I’ve said to the players, ‘This is a top of the table clash, there’s no pressure here – it’s just fun. Every one of you should be delighted with playing in these kinds of games.’ And they are enjoying it, as we’re enjoying coaching them as a coaching group, so we’ve just got to maintain that.”

“Not to get too carried away with good or bad results was always going to be one of the most important things this year, and I think we’ve managed to do that pretty well. We’re enjoying ourselves week-by-week and keeping level-headed about results.”

“Northampton gave us a bit of a seeing-to up at Franklin’s Gardens so we’re very aware there are a lot of threats in that team. The basic thing for us this week will be to start the game well. I think Northampton are enjoying themselves and teams that are enjoying what they do are always going to be a threat.”

“We’re going to need to show resilience and fight across the full 80 minutes. They’ve got a very good set piece, defensively they’re functioning well, and we know they are capable of scoring right up into the last minutes.”

Max Norey and Alec Hepburn remain on the bench, this week joined by Ehren Painter. Tuima is then accompanied by Ross Vintcent to cover the rest of the scrum.

For backline cover, Devoto is joined by Tom Cairns and Zack Wimbush.

Exeter Chiefs:

15 Tommy Wyatt

14 Immanuel Feyi-Waboso

13 Henry Slade

12 Joe Hawkins

11 Ben Hammersley

10 Harvey Skinner

9 Stu Townsend

1 Nika Abuladze

2 Jack Yeandle

3 Josh Iosefa-Scott

4 Lewis Pearson

5 Dafydd Jenkins (c)

6 Ethan Roots

7 Jacques Vermeulen

8 Greg Fisilau

Replacements:

16 Max Norey

17 Alec Hepburn

18 Ehren Painter

19 Rusi Tuima

20 Ross Vintcent

21 Tom Cairns

22 Ollie Devoto

23 Zack Wimbush