Rob Baxter wants his Exeter Chiefs side to show the same ambition and hunger they demonstrated 12 months ago in securing a Heineken Cup place to be the key driver for them as they head into the final run-in for this season's Aviva Premiership.
With just three top flight fixtures remaining for the Devon club, the battle to get into the top six is set to go right to the wire as the eighth-placed Chiefs look to close in on the likes of Gloucester, Bath and London Wasps, who lie just ahead of them in the all-important, remaining places.
Tomorrow, the Chiefs – who have won three of their last four Premiership games – play host to London Irish at Sandy Park (3pm) in the first of three crunch encounters.
For Baxter, it's a clash he is clearly relishing as he aims to get his club back playing amongst Europe's elite teams next season.
"We're in a nice position at the moment," he said. "We're coming up on the rails of a few teams above us and we are making a bit of a late run. We did that last season when some good results right at the end drove us up fifth place – and now we need to show that same kind of ambition again. This week we've talked about going after it again and not resting on our laurels and thinking it's been a nice season again.
"Yes, it has been a good season and we've beaten some fantastic teams along the way. Our Premiership record – especially at home – is good, but that doesn't count for too much if you don't stay ambitious and want to achieve more. At the minute, things are within our grasp, but there are still lots of points still to be gathered. What we have to do now is put together three big performances; work hard and show a good competitive edge this weekend, else it will slip away very quickly."
Changes to the team that started against the Warriors a fortnight ago see Brett Sturgess return in the front-row at the expense of Carl Rimmer, whilst Ben White is given the nod over Dave Ewers in the back-row. On the bench, a collarbone injury to James Hanks means he misses the game, so his place amongst the replacements is taken by Aly Muldowney.
Buoyed by that latest win on the road, Baxter hopes having two of the final three games being staged on home turf can help to provide an additional boost to his side's chances. He said: "It's always nice playing at home because we've got a pretty good record here.
Although records – home or away – rely on the performance you put in, not necessarily where you play. What we have to do this weekend is make sure the way we play involves the crowd and that we show them how important it is to us.
"We know how our crowd gets behind us when we are playing well, so that's another challenge we've laid down to the boys this week. We want them to show the crowd how important a game this is and they will respond likewise."CHIEFS TEAM TO FACE LONDON IRISH
15 Luke Arscott
14 Jack Nowell
13 Phil Dollman
12 Jason Shoemark
11 Matt Jess
10 Gareth Steenson
9 Haydn Thomas
1 Brett Sturgess
2 Jack Yeandle
3 Hoani Tui
4 Dean Mumm
5 Damian Welch
6 Ben White
7 James Scaysbrook
8 Richard Baxter (capt)Reserves:
16 Chris Whitehead
17 Carl Rimmer
18 Craig Mitchell
19 Aly Muldowney
20 Dave Ewers
21 Will Chudley
22 Henry Slade
23 Ian Whitten
