Head coach Rob Baxter thinks the trip to Bath is the toughest in the Aviva Premiership – but feels this weekend is the perfect time for Exeter Chiefs to head to The Rec.
The Sandy Park outfit make their shortest journey of the season on Saturday as they face Bath, a match which was sold out weeks ago.
Mike Ford's men are enjoying a fine season, sitting second in the league table. With Exeter just one place below their hosts, the game was always going to be significant.
However, Friday's 18-11 defeat at Sale means there is more at stake for the Chiefs as they need to bounce back from a display which disappointed Baxter.
And the Exeter supremo thinks the frustration of last week's performance will give his players an extra boost this Saturday.
"Bath away is probably the hardest fixture this season," he said. "That's a great challenge for us and probably not a bad time to have that on the back of a loss because there's only one way to go – we have to go up there and fly into the game and see what happens.
"It's a tough place, not many teams go there and win now, they've established some real quality and it's something I hope we'll get really excited about.
"I'm looking forward to it already. That's the best thing about being in the Premiership, you go from game to game and move on.
"This is the best we've been at this stage of the season and we should be excited about that. I don't want the players to feel down about Sale, I want them to feel excited about where we are in the Premiership.
"We're pretty much at the halfway stage of the season now and we're going fine. We have to concentrate on those good things and not the odd mistake we make."
Friday's defeat was only Exeter's fourth in all competitions this season and ended an eight-game winning run – their best in the top flight.
They beat the likes of Northampton and Saracens during that time and Baxter wants his players to respond well – just as the Saints did – from the set-back.
He said: "I think the players were disappointed with their level of performance – they're an honest bunch of guys and they've worked extremely hard.
"As frustrating and disappointing as it is when you lose, sometimes you need to step back and realise this is a group of players who have worked extremely hard for a long part of the season so far and we've had a bit of a slip up.
"We've dealt with losses very well in the past, that's what we've got to do again. I'm not going to dwell on it.
"This season we've beaten Northampton away and what did they do from that? They've gone on and been very good, it didn't end their season or be a defining moment for them. That's what we've got to do, we've got to move forward."
Exeter's players have been given Christmas Eve and Christmas Day off but will train on Boxing Day ahead of the derby the following day.
Baxter is not expected to make too many changes from the squad that lost at Sale, when hooker Jack Yeandle returned to action after five weeks out with a back injury.
And for the first time in a league match, Baxter will send out a team that know what it is like to beat Bath after winning their last two meetings in the LV= Cup.
However, the head coach thinks those triumphs will count for very little this weekend.
"Playing well and winning is a great experience to have, but game by game things change and you have to deal with every game as it comes," he said.
"This is a fresh game for us. That post-Christmas game is almost a one-off game on its own and that's how I look at it.
"It's something we can get stuck into and I want to make sure we can be happy with our level of performance.
"Whatever happens, if we walk off the pitch and say we were pretty much at the level we can play at then you can be satisfied."
