Chiefs-Pirates ready for a fight
Having notched up a highly impressive ten wins in ten starts so far this season, Baxter's troops will be aiming to reach the halfway point of the season with their record still intact tomorrow.
Standing in their way, however, will be the neighbouring Cornish Pirates who dock into port at Sandy Park this weekend sitting fourth in the standings.
Baxter knows from past experience that clashes with their counterparts from across the Tamar are always keenly contested and he expects this latest showdown to be no different.
"Obviously the boys are pretty excited about Saturday for various reasons," he said. "One, it's a local derby; it looks like it's going to be close to a sell-out – which will be a great experience for everyone – conditions look like they are going to be interesting and, of course, we are unbeaten so it all adds up to being a very important game for us.
"The Pirates are a decent side and we know what they are all about. It's been a bit difficult to fully assess them, we saw two or three of their early games when they looked useful and upset a few teams like Nottingham. However, they've had some injury issues since then and they've been a little bit up-and-down since. That said, you look at their teamsheet from the Bedford game last week and you can see there is a lot of good players there and a solid group of 22."
Exeter coaches Robin Cowling and Ricky Pellow were interested spectators at Camborne last Sunday when the Pirates returned to winning ways with a 25-24 success over the visiting Blues.
Both have reported back to Baxter their observations and plans have been made accordingly. As has been the case this season, Baxter is more interested in what his own side carry out, rather than focus too much on their opposition.
"Maybe in the past we have worried about the opposition too much," admitted Baxter. "In fact we nearly made that mistake against Bristol this year. Of course we approach and analyse our opponents in a very professional manner, but once we've got that out of the way early in the week, we make sure the key focus returns to how we want to play and the skills we want to improve. That has probably been our biggest strength this year."
Like Baxter, opposite number Chris Stirling has done his detailed homework on the Chiefs before focusing his thoughts to his own squad.
"We spoke about Exeter today in our match preview," said the Kiwi. "But if our preview was 15 minutes long, 13 of those minutes were spent on us and just two on Exeter because we can't control what they do.
"We know their style of play because we've followed them in every game this season and it's meant we've seen lots of them on DVD. We know what they do, the thing is, they do it very well. It's no thrills, but it's very effective. You don't win ten games on the trot – against some very good opposition – unless you are effective in what you do."
Stirling admits last weekend's victory over Bedford was a timely boost for his side who having gone unbeaten in September, won only once in October.
"It was a big, big win for us," said Stirling. "I was really pleased. Sometimes you have to win one of those close games to instil the confidence. Winning close games like last week can do a lot for a team and it certainly has for us.
"Yes, there are issues we still need to address within our game, but overall it was another step in the right direction."
Among the areas of concern for Stirling will have been his side's accuracy, as well as first-up tackling.
He added: "I've looked at the tape four times and I don't think Bedford could have played any better than they did. We, on the other hand, were way off mark from where we can be. Our accuracy was below average and it was probably our worse game for missing first-up tackles. On Saturday, both those areas need to sharpen up considerably.
"We can't make similar kinds of mistakes against Exeter because if we let them get momentum and get in behind us, we will be in all sorts of trouble."
Whilst the Pirates were defeating Bedford, 24 hours earlier the Chiefs had inflicted a 42-11 reverse on fellow high-flyers Nottingham at Welford Road.
It was, according to Baxter, a satisfying outcome. However, the Midlanders were somewhat depleted compared to normal and the coach is not getting carried away.
"We are very aware as a team that wasn't a full strength Nottingham team we faced," said Baxter. "We didn't jump back on the bus whooping and hollering about the fact we had beaten Nottingham. We have played against tougher Nottingham teams in the past and I think we will again in the future.
"At the same time, though, what was encouraging for me was that we turned up and did a thoroughly professional job and that is all you can ask for.
"Yes, we were good in that game, but I still haven't seen what I describe as a great Exeter performance this year. We haven't really, really clicked and had one of those games where you can just see we are unstoppable. Personally, I still think we can get better as the season goes along and that, for me, is very encouraging."
Ahead of kick-off tomorrow, Baxter has made three changes to his line-up with Sean Marsden and Paul McKenzie coming into the back division in place of Emyr Lewis and Matt Cornwell, while in the pack skipper Tom Hayes is replaced by James Hanks. Richard Baxter takes over the captaincy.
For the visitors, prop Paul Andrew is their sole change. He comes into the front-row in place of the injured Rudi Brits.
Exeter Chiefs: S Marsden; M Jess, P McKenzie, P Dollman, M Foster; G Steenson, H Thomas; B Sturgess, S Alcott, C Budgen; C Bentley, J Hanks; C Slade, J Scaysbrook, R Baxter (capt). Replacements: B Moon, N Clark, T Hayes, T Johnson, C Stuart-Smith, D Gray, M Cornwell.
Cornish Pirates: W Davies; R McAtee, N Jackson, M Ireland, A Havili; R Cook, G Cattle (capt); P Andrew, D Ward, S Franklin; S Pammenter, B Gulliver; B Cowan, S Betty, L McGlone. Replacements: R Storer, R Elloway, C Rimmer, L Collins, M Evans, J Doherty, S Winn.
TICKETS for the covered seating in the South West Communications Stand, along with ground tickets will be on sale from the ticket office tomorrow. Ticket office opens at 12 noon. They can also be purchased in advance by contacting ticket office today 10am – 4pm and also on-line until 10am tomorrow.
Exeter Chiefs head coach Rob Baxter issues instructions during a training session this week
