Exeter Chiefs put 6'6 monster on wing against Toulouse in Champions Cup baptism of fire

Exeter Chiefs boss Rob Baxter gives rookie outside centre Zack Wimbush only his second appearance on the wing for the Investec Champions Cup trip to Top 14 champions Toulouse on Sunday afternoon.

Baxter has made the enforced change because England winger Immanuel Feyi-Waboso picked up a hamstring injury in their first Gallagher PREM win of the season against Newcastle Red Bulls last weekend.

Wimbush is part of a brand-new back three, with Tommy Wyatt on the opposite wing and Sam Harris at full-back, while the Chiefs are also without Olly Woodburn and Paul Brown-Bampoe through injury.

Will Goodrick-Clarke will make his first start of the season at loosehead, and Tighthead Josh Iosefa-Scott will lead the team out in his 100th club appearance, and Wallaby star Tom Hooper returns to the side from the kick-off to partner Dafydd Jenkins in the second row.

Baxter admits that there aren’t many greater challenges than a trip to Toulouse, who have been crowned French champions six times in the last eight years.

“There’s probably not many greater challenges than going away to Toulouse. Obviously, Bordeaux Begles were fantastic in this competition last season but probably the most consistent team over recent years has been Toulouse.

“They are one of those teams who continually turn up in both the European and domestic competitions, so it’s about as good as it gets. We had a good season last year, and one of the drivers was getting back into the Champions Cup.

“So now you’ve got to embrace the challenge and try to improve by taking part while looking to be ultra-competitive. People will automatically think they’ll be all-singing, all-dancing, running tries in from everywhere.

“However, if you watch their last game, both Toulouse and Bayonne actually scored a lot of points from the pressure aspect of their game – going to the corner and looking for maul tries. It was quite an attritional game from that perspective.

“There’s more than one way to win games of rugby and Toulouse can certainly win them in a variety of ways. They’re very happy to roll their sleeves up and win them the hard way but they’ve also got the capabilities to open the game up and hurt you if you drop off.

“As with playing any good side, you’ve got to be aware of all aspects of their game. Try to give yourself as many opportunities to be in the game and score your own points where possible.

“We’ll need a much bigger defensive work-rate than last weekend, and I think if we can do that, then we are looking dangerous in attack. We’re creating try-scoring opportunities, we’re moving the ball well and our set-piece is functioning well.

“Those will give us some good foundation elements. There’s no reason why we can’t be competitive over large parts of this game,” said Baxter.

Exeter Chiefs: 15 Sam Harris, 14 Zack Wimbush, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Will Butt, 11 Tommy Wyatt, 10 Harvey Skinner, 9 Stephen Varney, 1 Will Goodrick-Clarke, 2 Jack Yeandle, 3 Josh Iosefa-Scott, 4 Tom Hooper, 5 Dafydd Jenkins (c), 6 Ethan Roots, 7 Ross Vintcent, 8 Greg Fisilau

Replacements: 16 Louie Gulley, 17 Ethan Burger, 18 Jimmy Roots, 19 Harry Wilson, 20 Kane James, 21 Sam Wolstenholme, 22 Will Haydon-Wood, 23 Ben Hammersley