Baxter hopes to buck the trend when Chiefs take on Bath

Bath's Recreation Ground has yet to prove a happy hunting ground for the Exeter Chiefs, but head coach Rob Baxter is hopeful his side can at last buck that trend tomorrow and emerge victorious from the Roman city (2.30pm).

After two testing weeks in the Heineken Cup for the Devon club against holders Leinster and French giants Clermont Auvergne, it's back to the bread and butter of the Aviva Premiership for the fifth-placed Chiefs.

Bruised and battered - both physically and somewhat mentally - following their European exertions, Baxter has quickly put to bed those two recent defeats and spent the week preparing his troops for their latest on-field battle.

Standing in the way of the visitors will be a Bath outfit who head into the match not only buoyed by back-to-back victories in the Amlin Challenge Cup against Bucharest Wolves and Agen, but safe in the knowledge that they have yet to taste defeat to Exeter in four previous top flight meetings.

It's a challenge, however, that Baxter and his players are keen to take on, especially in the wake of recent games where the Chiefs pitted themselves against arguably two of the top club sides within the Northern Hemisphere.

"We have enjoyed the Heineken Cup, but we were enjoying the Premiership as well," said Baxter, whose last Premiership outing saw his side blitz current champions Harlequins at Sandy Park. "Things were going well for us before Europe and now we are in that great period where we have a couple of Premiership games before the LV= Cup kicks in.

"I think the teams that come through these next two games strongly can start rubbing their hands together and looking forward to a different challenge in the LV= Cup where traditionally teams tend to rotate things around a bit and have a look at different players. For me, this weekend is about showing some of the qualities we have displayed in the Heineken Cup and dragging them into the Premiership. If we do that, then I will be very happy."

Although the Chiefs suffered successive defeats in Europe, Baxter was quick to highlight that there had been plenty of positives to take from both games and it those he and his players have been keen to build on this past week.

"We've had a nice, energetic training week and we've seemed to have flown through the whole week," explained Baxter. "You can see the boys are keen to get back into action and get after these games. We've enjoyed the period we have been through so far, but we're keen to keep moving forward. Yes, they've been tough games, but we've enjoyed it and I think getting into Bath away, another tough fixture, and one which we can't say we have performed all that well in before, it's represents another great challenge for us.

"They [Bath] are doing well; they are in the top half of the league; they've had a couple of good wins in the Amlin and they're very confident right now, so that makes them a dangerous side. That coupled with the fact we have to travel to a place where we've never won before, it all adds a bit to things. As players these are the kind of games you want to be involved in and be successful in, so it's up to us to thrive in that environment.

"Hopefully we've learnt lessons from the last few weeks and that we now do the little things that little bit better because we have been shown how to do it by other teams. The key is we've put in a couple of real intense performances and now we have to carry it through. That's what we have said to the guys this week. Of course it will be tough, but that is what you expect from Premiership rugby.

"Bath are a good side, they are well coached and they're a solid team. The challenge won't be what happens in the first 20 minutes, it will be more about making sure we're fighting it out in that last quarter and about playing the way we want to and having the confidence to stick at it."

Heading into the contest, Baxter has made changes to his side with Australian international Dean Mumm - who was forced to miss last weekend's game because of family reasons - returning in the second row in place of club captain Tom Hayes; whilst on the wing Argentine speedster Gonzalo Camacho makes his first appearance of the season as he gets the nod over Ulsterman Ian Whitten.

Whitten is joined on the bench by scrum-half Kevin Barrett, who comes in for the injured Will Chudley, whilst Academy product Dave Ewers offers options in the back-row.

CHIEFS SIDE TO FACE BATH

15 Luke Arscott

14 Gonzalo Camacho

13 Phil Dollman

12 Jason Shoemark

11 Matt Jess

10 Gareth Steenson

9 Haydn Thomas

1 Brett Sturgess

2 Simon Alcott

3 Carl Rimmer

4 Dean Mumm