POOL B
Doncaster Knights v London Welsh
The Knights will be without back row Adam Kettle for this must-win match at Castle Park after he was suspended by the RFU until May 4th following a recent red card at Exeter Chiefs.
The Yorkshire side are bottom of Pool B but can still qualify for the semi-final if they beat London Welsh and Exeter win against Nottingham.
Prop Lewis Thiede returns to the side after injury and they have been further boosted by the news that skipper Glen Kenworthy will remain at the club next season but back row Simon Grainger is leaving to return to Wales.
Victory for London Welsh will ensure that they progress in the Championship and they could still gain home advantage in the semi-final if Exeter slip-up. Amidst their widely publicised link-up with the Ospreys the Welsh have issued the following statement to clarify matters www.london-welsh.co.uk
Exeter Chiefs v Nottingham
Exeter Chiefs will be hoping to take a victory over Nottingham at Sandy Park on Saturday to not only secure a home semi-final but to also give Richie Baxter a chance to feature again this season.
The influential No 8 suffered an injury against London Welsh but head coach Rob Baxter is pleased with his progress so far.
He said: "Richie is doing remarkably well. We are really confident he will play again this season and for that to happen, we need a good result from this weekend."
Although Baxter has not been named in this weekend's squad, fly-half Gareth Steenson has been selected among the extended group after recovering from the ankle injury he suffered against London Welsh at home in the pool stage. Simon Alcott has also been named after recovering from the injury he sustained in the Doncaster game three weeks ago
Ticket sales have been going well for this game but there are plenty more available with the North Terrace bringing Sandy Park's capacity up to 10,000. Baxter is hoping the home support will continue to help the team produce the kind of results they have enjoyed at home in the play-off phase.
Baxter said: "There is no doubt that, particularly through the play-offs, the supporters have played a massive part in our season. The home atmosphere has been incredible and that is the kind of support we are growing here. If that support follows us for the rest of the season, it will help us move on to where we want to be."
Forwards:
Simon Alcott, Neil Clark, David Gannon, James Hanks, Tom Hayes, Tom Johnson, Andy Miller, Ben Moon, Ruaidhri Murphy, James Scaysbrook, Chad Slade, Michael Stupple, Brett Sturgess & Hoani Tui
Backs:
Richard Bolt, Matt Cornwell, Phil Dollman, Mark Foster, Danny Gray, Matt Jess, Paul McKenzie, Bryan Rennie, Nic Sestaret, Gareth Steenson, Clive Stuart-Smith & Haydn Thomas
Exeter Chiefs have extended the contracts of three of their front players - Chris Budgen, Neil Clark and Brett Sturgess - who have clocked up 73 appearances between them this season alone
Sturgess, who has played the most games this season of the three, arrived three seasons ago, while Budgen has continued to juggle his Army commitments with his vital role as part of the Chiefs squad during the last two years and is the highest try scorer of the trio with 13,
Clark returned to Chiefs in 2008 after a spell at Bristol and passed the 100 league game milestone earlier this season. Together with props Hoani Tui and Ruaidhri Murphy, who will also be with Chiefs next season, this trio have formed the cornerstone of the Exeter squad
Head coach Rob Baxter said: "To have secured the services of this number of quality front row players is a massive positive for the club.
Any game of rugby starts with the competition for possession and these players have guaranteed a stream of quality ball from the set-pieces this season.
All these players have different strengths and are at different stages of their playing development but they all have the correct work ethic and desire to succeed that we demand as a club."
Nottingham will be looking to the big game experience of on-loan prop Tom French to help them gain their first win away against the Chiefs since 1984.
The 26 year-old joined from London Wasps as emergency cover after Petrus du Plessis left for Saracens last month, and is using the loan spell as rehab following a lengthy spell on the sidelines with an Achilles problem.
French played for Wasps in the 2007 Heineken Cup Final and told the Evening Post: “The injury has made this an extremely difficult season for me, what with the surgery and months of rehab, and I jumped at the chance to join Nottingham because I saw it as a way to get back on the field.
"It has taken nearly a year off of my career but it will be some consolation if I get to help us keep our play-off hopes alive by winning at Exeter.”
"Games don't come a lot bigger than this one. There's everything to play for, whichever team you are involved with, and it's certainly Nottingham's biggest game of the season." www.thisisnottingham.co.uk
Nottingham boss Glenn Delaney has demanded that his team starts on the front foot at Sandy Park as they bid to spring an upset.
He told the Evening Post: “Sandy Park is an intimidating place to go to, but all the pressure will be on Exeter and we have to try to play our own game.
"You know what you are going to get with them. They are direct and one-dimensional and will run hard at you. But they win a lot of ball in the contact area so we need to sharpen up our first-up tackles.”
Delaney added: "When we beat them 20-9 at Meadow Lane, we took that physicality straight to them, and put them on the back foot. If we can do that in the first 20 minutes tomorrow, we could be in for an extremely interesting game.”
"Exeter are very patient and will play phase after phase when they have the ball in hand. It grinds the opposition down.
"But their entire season hangs on this one game and if we perform as we can, we are certainly capable of spoiling their party."
Story and Nottingham team www.thisisnottingham.co.uk
|
Championship Index 09/10
