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'We've got a plan and it's a very similar plan to what we were going to use in the final'

By PA
Sale Sharks v Wasps – Gallagher Premiership – AJ Bell Stadium

Rob Baxter welcomes Exeter’s toughest test of the season to date knowing that Wasps will be motivated by revenge in Saturday’s heavyweight showdown at the Ricoh Arena.

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The rematch of the 2020 Gallagher Premiership final sees Baxter’s double winners look to improve on a poor record at the home of their rivals, where they have won only once since 2015.

Their most recent visit to Coventry was also their last defeat, when a weakened team were dismantled 46-5 in October.

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Brian Moore chats to Jim Hamilton:

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Brian Moore chats to Jim Hamilton:

Of greater significance is the climax to last season, when Exeter were taken to the wire in a 19-13 victory at Twickenham that saw Wasps fail to capitalise on an attacking line-out in the closing stages.

“Wasps are enjoying how they play and are playing with a lot of energy. No one appreciates more than me how tough it is to go there and get a win,” Chiefs director of rugby Baxter said.

“They’ve got a confidence about them and there will be an element of wanting to get their own back after the final, to prove a point there.

“We’ll have to have more energy than we did against Gloucester last weekend because it will be a tough and fast-paced game. But this is something we need – a tough, challenging game away from home.

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“This should be the type of thing that gets us ready for our return to Europe in a couple of weeks.”

Wasps’ build-up to the final was affected by an outbreak of coronavirus that severely restricted their training, while the treacherous conditions prevented them from playing the all-action style of rugby that had swept them into the final.

“What a great challenge – to take on the European and Premiership champions. That’s something we’re excited about,” head coach Lee Blackett said.

“We went into that game at Twickenham with a way of beating them, but then we got there and there was horizontal rain lashing down.

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“We’ve got a plan and it’s a very similar plan to what we were going to use in the final until the conditions changed our plan on the day. Hopefully we’ll get better conditions on Saturday.”

Wasps entered the final without 11 squad players who had been sidelined by Covid-19 and contact tracing, yet they fought Exeter to a standstill.

With the clock ticking down, they lost a five-metre line-out on their own throw that would have provided the platform to engineer a stunning upset.

“I’ve put it to bed. Personally and as a team we’ve put it to bed. It’s not something we spend too much time thinking about,” Blackett said.

“Everything we went through that week and where we got to in terms of being five metres out with a couple of minutes to go, makes me ridiculously proud of the effort.

“We had one training session going into that game and got ourselves in a position to win.

“That week and a half leading up to the final was brutal. I don’t think I averaged an hour’s sleep a night.

“Games at the top are won by little things and it’s about taking your opportunities. We had that opportunity but didn’t manage to take it.

“Yes there’s disappointment but it’s not something we look back at with sadness. We’ll be proud at getting ourselves there and yes there’s a fraction of regret, but for me it’s well and truly over.”

In Saturday’s other fixture, Gloucester will look to claim their second win in five outings when they host Sale at Kingsholm.

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J
Jon 9 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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