Exeter Chiefs notebook: ‘Raw talent’ identified, Steve Borthwick chat and ‘tough’ selection calls

Exeter Chiefs Director of Rugby Rob Baxter spoke to the press following their convincing double-header wins over London Scottish and Cornish Pirates. 

There were plenty of talking points following the successful start to their pre-season block, and we’ve put together a notebook for the Exeter Chiefs’ faithful.

Kicking things off with a win

Pre-season is more about learning and getting minutes into players rather than winning, but it is easier to build foundations from success. Exeter can do just that now, winning by an aggregate score line of 91-43 across both games, and Baxter feels he got exactly what he wanted out of his side in their two fixtures.

“Yeah, I’m really pleased,” he said.

“We’re not going to make any secret of it, we looked at what was really important for us last year; and the Premiership Cup running into the Premiership season was really important for us (as a pre-season block).

“We’ve deliberately started early, and we’ve got all the lads playing in this double-header and we’re still far enough away from the Premiership to have some things to work on and get ready for the Ospreys and Ulster games and it’s just important for us to get some game time and some feel of how we want to play.”

The manner of the victories will have pleased Baxter too. Chiefs fronted up against two big, physical sides in defence, and also looked to play an expansive attacking game.

“We’ve actually held back from stuff you would call close to live contact. We’ve done bag work and grab tackle and tackle technique stuff, but we haven’t done anything close to live contact and I’m really pleased with the levels we got to today.”

The set-piece, and especially the scrum, was also at its frightening best.

“I think our ambition to attack was very good, our ambition to work hard was really good, the set-piece looked strong – particularly around the scrum – and we ticked a lot of boxes that will give us a solid foundation.”

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Selection headaches

Whilst the scrummaging masterclass put on by Exeter left Baxter delighted, it now creates plenty of selection headaches as they gear up for more pre-season games against Ospreys and Ulster in the coming weeks.

“The front-row is going to be tough to pick based on the performances today, and that pack will be really tough,” he added.

The expansive attack also allowed a lot of his backs to thrive. With Immanuel Feyi-Waboso still returning to the mix after his England exploits, it gave Baxter the chance to blood in some new faces into the backline, and they certainly took their chance.

“We’ve also got a bit more competition in the backline than we had last season,” Baxter admitted.

“Josh Hodge is back up and fully fit, same with Ben Hammersley. Paul Brown-Bampoe, particularly in attack, looks very dangerous and Will Rigg is taking a step up from where he was last season and Zac Wimbush will do the same just with age.

“You then watch guys like Nick Lilley and Ben Coen step in and look very comfortable at Championship level and that’s fantastic for us as these are the guys who are going to thrive for us in the coming seasons.”

With all that taken into consideration, Baxter will have to make some tough calls for their next pre-season game against the Ospreys; and he detailed how they will be using something close to their 23-man squad for the season.

“We’ll probably go into that with a slightly larger squad just to cover injuries, but I’ll be looking to make that more of a 23-man squad. We’ve got a week off now, and then we’re back for the two games,” he added.

“We’ll crank things up that Monday we get back, our running load will probably increase as the lads have been more gym-heavy and run light until now, but on the whole, it looks like there’s not much more we could have done in pre-season.”

Midfield options

One of the key takeaways from the double-header was the form of all four starting centres. There are two spots open in the midfield for the start of the season, as new recruit Tamati Tua and stalwart Henry Slade both out for the opening rounds of the Premiership, but the likes of Joe Hawkins, Zac Wimbush and Will Rigg gave a good account of themselves in the opening pre-season fixture.

Another possible option is Ben Hammersley, who also shifted into 13 for the London Scottish fixture to good effect.

When asked by Planet Rugby about Hammersley in midfield, after he made his breakthrough on the wings last season, Baxter revealed this could be an option moving forward: “We wanted to have a look at him there today. We’re pretty limited in the centre positions with Tamati Tua and Henry Slade injured. Ben did play there a fair bit before he got established on the wing so we just wanted to have a look at that scenario.”

He also detailed the competition for places is strong at both 12 and 13: “That being said, we still have other options at centre, Zac Wimbush, Joe Hawkins and Will Rigg as well as other guys who can play centre. I’ll look at the video and see how today went and if that looks the best option we would go for it but we have other options too.”

Raw talent

Exeter has been a hotbed for young wingers in recent years. The rapid rise of Feyi-Waboso from reserves to England star has dominated the headlines, but there is another back who could follow a similar trajectory.

Raw talent Paul Brown-Bampoe put on a stellar showing in the fixture against the Cornish Pirates, grabbing a first-half hat-trick and easily could have had more too as his balance of electric pace and power had the Pirates’ defence at sixes and sevens, and Baxter has high hopes for the former Durham University student.

“We brought him in part-way through last season. Paul had the chance to finish his degree partly-remote so he took the opportunity to come. He came and played a fair bit for Plymouth (Albion) last season, and this is a good way to start the process as he’s had a bit of time to work on his game,” Baxter explained.

“He is an inexperienced player, but he’s got some brilliant attributes. We saw it today there’s a lot to like and if we can keep working on his overall game you could see him being a very good player.”

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England squad

The England squad will always be a key focus for fans, but Exeter could see a number of their squad make the EPS squad this season. Ethan Roots, Feyi-Waboso and of course Henry Slade all made Steve Borthwick’s squad to Japan and New Zealand, with the latter two starting in both Tests and Feyi-Waboso ending as England’s top scorer on the tour with three tries in three games.

Elsewhere, Rusi Tuima, Greg Fisilau, Josh Hodge and Josh Iosefa-Scott featured in the England A friendly against Portugal earlier this year, with Tuima and Fisilau also being drafted into the main England squad building up for the summer series.

With that being said, Baxter detailed a ‘productive’ conversation between himself and Steve Borthwick earlier in the week for the Exeter players who could reach the Test squad this season.

“We had all the IDP’s (individual development plans) with all the lads he wanted to talk to. The EPS (elite playing squad) squad hasn’t been selected yet, but I thought it was a really good process,” he said.

“Steve and I had the chance to talk through the IDP’s and there was nothing we disagreed on, there were some very productive elements that came out of the chat and there are some things we can work on together to get the best out of the players for both England and Exeter.”

Returning man

Another huge positive to take from the game was the return of academy graduate Sam Maunder. The scrum-half had been an ever-present in the Chiefs match-day squad following his debut in 2018, but has been side-lined for the past 18 months with a serious knee injury.

Following his return to full fitness, Maunder started the opening game of the afternoon against London Scottish where he made the most of his 60 minutes on the field. Speaking to Planet Rugby about the return of the scrum-half, Baxter said he was ‘delighted’ to see him out on the field.

“It was brilliant seeing Sam back. It was the first thing the players spoke about in the changing rooms, the first thing everyone wanted to do was raise a beer to Sam after 18 months out with a nasty injury,” the Exeter boss said.

“It was lovely to see before the game, Sam was just a bundle of excitement getting ready to play and I’m delighted he’s got through the game without picking up an injury and played a productive part in a good performance.”

He added: “He’s bigger and stronger, which will allow him to move forward. I’m delighted for him, the lads are delighted for him and it’s gone as well as it can for him.”

Baxter also detailed the importance of getting as many minutes under his belt, be that at Chiefs or elsewhere.

“What we really need to do for Sam now is get plenty of rugby in front of him,” he added.

“We’ll have a sit down with him, and if there aren’t games available with us depending on selection we still make sure he’s playing to get him right back up to speed and get him feeling like he’s playing naturally than trying to play.”

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