Exeter ready for "multiple threats" from in-form Wasps

Simon Foster 10:33 05/12/2015
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  • Exeter will go top of the Aviva Premiership if they beat Wasps on Saturday – but Chiefs head coach Rob Baxter is braced for a battle against opponents boasting “multiple threats.”

    Victory in Coventry would take Exeter above unbeaten leaders Saracens, who face Newcastle on Sunday, and underline the continued strides they continue to make under Baxter’s astute leadership.

    Wasps, though, are on a roll, having gone four successive Premiership and European games unbeaten, averaging 30 points in seeing off Gloucester, Leinster, Toulon and London Irish.

    “We know they are a good side, and if we go there under-prepared or mentally off-key, then it will be very tough for us,” Baxter said. “They are very comfortable with what they are trying to do, and they are happy with the rugby they are playing.

    “They have multiple threats all over the field, and if you make too many mistakes in the way you play, they are set up very well to capitalise. People talk a lot about their attacking qualities, but probably where they haven’t got the credit they deserve is how good they have looked defensively.”

    Exeter will be without injured back-row pair Dave Ewers and Don Armand for the Ricoh Arena clash, while Wasps have lost flanker James Haskell due to a shoulder problem and lock Joe Launchbury is close to returning from injury, but not quite ready for this weekend.

    Harlequins, meanwhile, will go into their Twickenham Stoop appointment with bottom club Irish today buoyed by the news that club captain Danny Care has agreed a new long-term contract.

    “In Danny, we see the Harlequins style stamped all over the way he approaches the game,” Quins rugby director Conor O’Shea said.

    Elsewhere, England centre Jonathan Joseph has recovered ahead of schedule from a chest injury suffered during the World Cup, and he returns for Northampton’s Recreation Ground visit.

    Joseph partners Ollie Devoto in midfield, with Matt Banahan reverting to the wing, while scrum-half Chris Cook, hooker Rob Webber and lock Dave Attwood also start.

    England flanker Tom Wood will miss Northampton’s trip to Bath because of injury, with Teimana Harrison called into the back-row as one of four changes following last week’s win against Gloucester.

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