Bath v Exeter: Teams
Rob Baxter has been forced to change his winning formula as he looks to continue Exeter's winning run against Bath.
Last Updated: 16/09/11 4:10pm
Exeter head coach Rob Baxter has been forced to change his winning formula as he looks to continue the Chiefs' dream start to the season against Bath.
The visitors head to the Rec as the top club in the Aviva Premiership after winning their opening two games of the campaign, but have had three players ruled out ahead of the clash.
New signing Josh Tatupu picked up an injury in last weekend's victory over Newcastle, meaning Nic Sestaret comes in for his first Premiership appearance of the season on the wing.
No. 8 Richard Baxter is also sidelined for the game and his place is taken by James Phillips, who will also be making his first Premiership start of the current campaign
The third and final change sees Fijian Sireli Naqelevuki, a try scorer in each of the opening two games, ruled out with Bryan Rennie promoted from the bench to outside centre.
While Baxter is pleased with his side's fast start to the season, he is keen to ensure that his squad do not get carried away.
"Of course it's a nice position to be in. However, people do get carried away and part of my job is to keep some reality on things," he said.
Comfortable
"The reality for us is that we are a good side, we have a good group of players and coaches, a good set-up and we feel comfortable.
"But it's like anything, the moment you feel comfortable is the time you start to go backwards. Right now we are happy with where we are, but there are areas of our game where there are steps to be made.
"The reality, I suppose, is you do look at the league table non-stop, particularly at the start of the season because you want to get yourselves out of the dogfight and relieve the pressure on yourselves.
"We are aware that if you put back to back wins together you can shoot up the table very quickly.
Prop Duncan Bell is set to play in his 200th game for Bath after being named ahead of Kane Palma-Newport in the front row.
Skipper Stuart Hooper returns at lock with Dave Attwood dropping to the bench, while in the back row Ben Skirving switches to No.8 to fill in for the injured Simon Taylor, with Guy Mercer coming in at flanker.
The final change to the line-up that lost out in added time to Saracens last weekend is at scrum-half, where Mark McMillan earns the starting spot ahead of Michael Claassens.
Bath: 15 Nick Abendanon, 14 Matt Carraro, 13 Dan Hipkiss, 12 Ben Williams, 11 Tom Biggs, 10 Sam Vesty, 9 Mark McMillan, 8 Ben Skirving, 7 Guy Mercer, 6 Carl Fearns, 5 Ryan Caldwell, 4 Stuart Hooper (capt), 3 Duncan Bell, 2 Pieter Dixon, 1 David Flatman.
Replacements: 16 Ross Batty, 17 Nathan Catt, 18 Kane Palma-Newport, 19 Dave Attwood, 20 Andy Beattie, 21 Michael Claassens, 22 Tom Heathcote, 23 Jack Cuthbert.
Exeter Chiefs: 15 Phil Dollman, 14 Nic Sestaret, 13 Bryan Rennie, 12 Jason Shoemark, 11 Matt Jess, 10 Ignacio Mieres, 9 Haydn Thomas, 8 James Phillips, 7 James Scaysbrook, 6 Tom Johnson, 5 Peter Short, 4 Tom Hayes (capt), 3 Hoani Tui, 2 Chris Whitehead, 1 Brett Sturgess.
Replacements: 16 Neil Clark, 17 Ben Moon, 18 Chris Budgen, 19 Aly Muldowney, 20 Ben White, 21 Kevin Barrett, 22 Gareth Steenson, 23 Mark Foster.