Confident: Matt Jess
Exeter wing Matt Jess insists his side will not hold back when they run out to face Pool leaders Clermont at Parc Des Sports Marcel Michelin this week.
It has been a strong debut in the Heineken Cup from Exeter as they recorded back-to-back wins over the Scarlets and pushed Leinster in Dublin.
But while they fell 46-12 to les Jaunards at home earlier in the campaign, Jess is adamant that they will fight fire with fire on French soil this week.
"It is a change of competition now and we go to Clermont, who are a great side, and then Leinster at home," he told the ERC's official website.
"Those are two games that are not going to be easy at all.
"However, we will stay positive and that is one of the best things about this team.
"The break in competition allows us to focus on something different. We can go to Clermont and attack it as much as we can. We make no bones about it, we are going to try and win the game.
"Again, with Leinster, we will go out and try and win the game. If we go out half-heartedly, the games will slip past us.
"We try not to dwell on things and we will attack every game as it comes. The last couple of weeks have not gone our way and we were not quite good enough.
"There are no doubts about where we want to be as a team and a squad and the coaches have always said we are an ambitious team."
Comments
curates_egg says...
@Froggy almost worked? If Leinster had kicked the kickable penalty they would have a got a draw - which they probably deserved - and they would be in a lot better place now. As it is, they don't have a great chance of sticking around for the knockout stages. Lets see after this weekend. Agreed though, going all out against Clermont would be a poor strategy for Exeter to employ.
Posted 13:12 09th January 2013
Iyhel says...
To attack, you need ball. Good luck with that, Leinster didn't see much of it last time...
Posted 12:42 09th January 2013
froggy73 says...
Wrong tactic imo. Playing attacking games against the fittest team of the HEC is a bad strategy. That is what they did at home and while the game was very entertaining, Exeter ended with a 46-12 defeat.
I believe they should rather try to copycat what Leinster did last month at Marcel Michelin. It almost worked and Leinster got at least a losing bonus point...that could be crucial.
Posted 11:14 09th January 2013