Chiefs name side for derby re-match with Bears

Exeter Chiefs have named their matchday 23 to take on Bristol Bears in a derby weekend re-match at Sandy Park on Saturday afternoon.

In the week they have been announced as selected for Wales, England and Italy, there are five Guinness Six Nations bound internationals involved for Chiefs this weekend.

Chiefs’ director of rugby Rob Baxter said: “Bristol are a very competitive side, they stay in games when things are against them. They can explode and take points off you in almost any circumstance. I think we controlled large parts of that in the away game earlier this season and remained competitive ourselves, so we’re going to have to be like that again.”

Last weekend’s outing against Cardiff Rugby in the EPCR Challenge Cup was a profitable one for tighthead prop Bachuki Tchumbadze who was a brace scorer and nominated the supporters’ player of the day. The Georgian starts again this weekend with Scott Sio and Joseph Dweba.

Wales’ Dafydd Jenkins captains the side from a second-row pairing with Italy’s Andrea Zambonin. Included in his first ever England Six Nations squad, Greg Fisilau returns to the pack at number eight with Tom Hooper and Ethan Roots on the flanks.

Charlie Chapman and Harvey Skinner line up ahead of Will Haydon-Wood and Henry Slade in the centres. The back three settles into a familiar routine as Paul Brown-Bampoe and Immanuel Feyi-Waboso start on the wings with Olly Woodburn the last line of defence at full-back.

Baxter added: “The reality is, you can’t keep giving Bristol the ball and let them do what they want to do, because they love attacking. You have to make it a very competitive game in all areas. You have to make them defend as well because time without the ball is time they can’t hurt you.

“They’re always an interesting challenge because they can be so dangerous so quickly. Then again, we’ve got a good home record that we’re proud of and are going to work very hard to keep this weekend.”

On the bench, Jack Yeandle leads the front row alongside Will Goodrick-Clarke and Jimmy Roots. As Chiefs this week revert to a 5-3 split, Lewis Pearson and Richard Capstick cover the back five of the scrum.

Campbell Ridl returns to the matchday side having served his disciplinary. The England U20s winger joins Tom Cairns and Ben Hammersley in the backs replacements.

The game kicks off at 15:00 in Devon, live on TNT sports and with match tickets still available here.

Exeter Chiefs:

15 Olly Woodburn

14 Immanuel Feyi-Waboso

13 Henry Slade

12 Will Haydon-Wood

11 Paul Brown-Bampoe

10 Harvey Skinner

9 Charlie Chapman

1 Scott Sio

2 Joseph Dweba

3 Bachuki Tchumbadze

4 Dafydd Jenkins (c)

5 Andrea Zambonin

6 Tom Hooper

7 Ethan Roots

8 Greg Fisilau

Replacements:

16 Jack Yeandle

17 Will Goodrick-Clarke

18 Jimmy Roots

19 Lewis Pearson

20 Richard Capstick

21 Tom Cairns

22 Ben Hammersley

23 Campbell Ridl