Photo: Exeter Rugby Club / Pinnacle Photo Agency

Chiefs need to get back on track says Whitten

Irishman Ian Whitten insists Exeter Chiefs can ill afford another slow start when they play host to London Wasps in their first Aviva Premiership home game of the season on Saturday (3pm).

With hopes high in the Devon camp ahead of their opening day trip to Northampton, the Chiefs were swept aside by the Saints during a powerful first half display that saw Jim Mallinder's men race into a 31-6 half time lead.

Although the visitors improved significantly during the second half, eventually losing the game 38-11, the damage had already been done and Whitten is adamant there can be no repeat showing this weekend.

"We didn't match Northampton's intensity in the first half, and we have got to learn that we need to turn up at the start when we go to places like that," said Whitten. "If you don't turn up and you let teams get a bit of momentum against you, it is very, very hard to reverse what's going on.

"If you are only just slightly off your game in the Premiership, you will get beaten. There is no easy opposition, and you need to turn up every week and be massively switched on to everything.

"This week we will be at home in front of our own crowd and we really need to turn in a performance and get back on track. The home atmosphere always gives us that wee bit extra, and we will probably need it. We need a big win to get our confidence up and get back into the swing of things, because last Saturday was a bit disappointing."

Like the Chiefs, Wasps will also be looking to bounce back from their narrow 16-15 opening day loss to Harlequins, when the width of a post denied new signing Andy Goode from recording a last-gasp victory at Twickenham in the second game of the London Double Header.

Whitten - who joined at the start of last season from Ulster - knows Dai Young's men will indeed be a tough nut to crack and says the Chiefs will have to be on their game from the outset this weekend.

"Defensively there were a couple of issues for us to look at. We gifted Northampton a couple of soft tries, and the game got away from us a wee bit in the first half," explained the 26-year-old. "In the second half, we improved a wee bit and we can take a few positives out of that. We created things on their five-metre line a good number of times, but we just didn't convert.

"We are trying a couple of new things this season, but system-wise, we let ourselves down a couple of times, and paid the price for it.

"They got off to a bit of a flying start, they had a couple of penalties they kicked to the corner, and they are very good coming away with points when they get into the corner.

"We didn't really stick to what we wanted to do in the first half, and they scored points, and we didn't really turn the tide until we got a talking to at half-time, and we started again in the second half and did a bit better."

Tickets for Saturday's game are available through the Chiefs official website or by visiting the Trading Post, which is open Monday to Friday from 10am to 4pm.