Chiefs Name Team for Festive Sellout at Sandy Park

December 27, 2024
135
Ultimate Rugby

Exeter Chiefs have named their side to host Gloucester in Round Nine of the Gallagher Premiership on Sunday in their last game of the calendar year.

It was a tough pre-Christmas meeting with Sale Sharks for the Exeter men while the Cherry and Whites held Harlequins to nil at Kingsholm Stadium for the first time in a decade for the Londoners.

A handful of changes are sprinkled throughout the Chiefs 23 as they prepare to take to the field in front of a sold-out Sandy Park.

The front row remains intact with Scott Sio at loosehead, Dan Frost at hooker and Marcus Street at tighthead.

Richard Capstick returns to the starting line-up to take a berth in the second row with Dafydd Jenkins. Jacques Vermeulen also rotates back in to join Ethan Roots and Greg Fisilau in the back row.

Stu Townsend and Henry Slade remain in place as the half-back pairing, as do Tamati Tua and Ben Hammersley in the centres.

There’s some reshuffling in the back three as Immanuel Feyi-Waboso sits the week out having taken a knock to the shoulder against Sale. Tommy Wyatt and Olly Woodburn start on the wings with Josh Hodge reinstated at full back.

Director of Rugby Rob Baxter believes his squad are just a couple of steps away from executing more positive results.

“I look at this group, look at how they train and their attitude towards wanting to get on with things and I’ve got confidence before every game. I’ve felt that before every game we’ve played this season, I’ve never once gone into a game thinking ‘this is it, there’s no chance of us winning’.

“We are only a performance away from feeling very different about our season. Will it be this week? I certainly hope so. Will we put things in place to try to help it happen this week? We certainly will.

“We’ll see the game play out and then we’ll know afterwards what the next things are that we have to move forward with and how we keep feeling positive.

“Looking at this weekend’s challenge specifically, Gloucester have had a good season. They seem to have gotten comfortable with how they’re playing pretty quickly. They still back their set-piece game to finish things off, so the challenge for us is not to get caught up in thinking the game is going to be an end-to-end tennis match.”

On the bench, the replacement front row is formed by hooker Jack Innard and props Will Goodrick-Clarke and Josh Iosefa-Scott. Franco Molina and Ross Vintcent provide international-quality cover for the second and back row.

Tom Cairns returns to the matchday side to join Will Haydon-Wood and Zack Wimbush in providing replacement options for the back line.

Exeter Chiefs:

15 Josh Hodge

14 Olly Woodburn

13 Ben Hammersley

12 Tamati Tua

11 Tommy Wyatt

10 Henry Slade

9 Stu Townsend

1 Scott Sio

2 Dan Frost

3 Marcus Street