Exeter Chiefs travel to Paris for the first Amlin Challenge Cup quarter-final against Stade Français on Thursday.
Having seen off the likes of Perpignan and the Dragons in the Pools, Rob Baxter's side will come up against arguably their toughest European assignment to date when they lock horns with the last season's losing finalists at Stade Charlety.
The Chiefs - in just their second season in both Europe and the Aviva Premiership - have caused quite a stir over the past few months with some outstanding displays stunning several opponents.
With hooker Chris Whitehead having declared himself fully fit despite picking up an ankle injury in Saturday's home win over London Irish, Baxter has been able to stick with an unchanged squad.
"We've already had some real challenges this season, not least playing the likes of Leicester," said the coach.
"We came through two games against them and we also came through what was a very tough final quarter up at Gloucester so, like I said, we've overcome some challenges already.
"This latest one will be different because of the distance we are travelling and it's a team we've not played before. At the same time we're not sure how they are going to attacking the competition either, but I know it will be an interesting game for us.
"Obviously when you go to France your set-piece needs to stand up, simply because every French side takes pride in that. Looking at Stade you can see they have a good driving game off their line-outs, they run solid and they have some top performance. At the same time, we're doing OK in those departments as well, so I expect it to be a big physical contest."
Meanwhile, Stade Français will be without Australian full-back Paul Warwick due to a back injury. Former Wallaby George Smith will however start having recently arrived from Japan.
The teams:
Stade Français: 15 Djibril Camara, 14 Paul Sackey, 13 Morgan Turinui, 12 Paul Williams, 11 Julien Arias, 10 Felipe Contepomi, 9 Julien Dupuy, 8 Sergio Parisse, 7 Antoine Burban, 6 George Smith, 5 Pascal Pape, 4 Anton van Zyl, 3 Rabah Slimani, 2 Dimitri Szarzewski, 1 Rodrigo Roncero.
Replacements: 16 Laurent Sempere, 17 Olivier Milloud, 18 Stan Wright, 19 Alexandre Flanquart, 20 David Lyons, 21 Pierre Rabadan, 22 Jerome Fillol, 23 Hugo Bonneval.
Exeter Chiefs: 15 Phil Dollman, 14 Gonzalo Camacho, 13 Bryan Rennie, 12 Jason Shoemark, 11 Matt Jess, 10 Ignacio Mieres, 9 Haydn Thomas, 8 Richard Baxter, 7 James Scaysbrook, 6 Tom Johnson, 5 James Hanks, 4 Tom Hayes (c), 3 Craig Mitchell, 2 Chris Whitehead, 1 Hoani Tui.
Replacements: 16 Neil Clark, 17 Ben Moon, 18 Chris Budgen, 19 Aly Muldowney, 20 Ben White, 21 Kevin Barrett, 22 Gareth Steenson, 23 Sireli Naqelevuki.
Date: Thursday, April 5
Venue: Stade Charlety, Paris
Kick-off: 20:45 (19:45 BST)
Referee: Peter Fitzgibbon
Comments
Lucasrg says...
@leinster_goy
hehe yeah true...but you know...money talks!
Posted 22:06 05th April 2012
leinster_goy says...
stade not very "francais" are they
Posted 12:59 05th April 2012
kybone says...
What a side Exeter are! a couple of years ago they were playing against the likes of Esher, Rotherham, and Doncaster Knights ( my team). Its a true inspiration to sides like Donny Knights and Rotherham that if you're managed right, and you make progress off the field i.e. stadiums ans facilities, you can get right to the top. The chiefs have all but secured Heineken Cup rugby for next with their league form. Its just been an endless list of firsts for the Chiefs over the past 2 years!
Posted 17:23 04th April 2012
ChrisInCrete says...
Go Exeter. What a great charge.
Posted 15:07 04th April 2012