ALTHOUGH it’s been a testing campaign so far for Exeter Chiefs, Director of Rugby Rob Baxter insists confidence and belief remains as strong as ever within his squad as they prepare to welcome Toulouse to Sandy Park tomorrow (5.30pm).

Just a week after returning home from a pointless trek to South Africa, things get no easier for the Chiefs as they gear up to face the reigning European champions in their latest Investec Champions Cup clash.

Baxter acknowledged this week his team could – and probably should – have secured some reward from their clash with the Sharks in Durban. With the hosts down to 12 men in the final ten minutes, the Chiefs failed to make their numerical advantage tell, eventually going down 39-21.

“We’re in this really annoying scenario where we’re not making the most of our chances. That’s down to us. When we’re creating things, we’re also not getting the rub to the green,” he said.

“We’re aware that one of our Achilles heels for the last 18 months or so has been the parts of games where you lose momentum and you’re trying to regain control.

“We found that that was a little bit of what happened to us in South Africa last week – we started well but there was a little period where we lost momentum and then we struggled to get ourselves back in charge.

“We’ve got to try to keep improving in that department so that we can try to be stronger in more periods of the game against Toulouse.”

It’s a realistic outlook from Baxter, but with his side yet to win in the Premiership and in Europe this season, trying to buck the trend against the star-studded Frenchmen this weekend will be no easy task.

Baxter does, however, remain a glass half full leader, adding: “I’m still one of these really positive people. I’ve seen groups of players in Exeter Chiefs teams achieve incredible things. I go into every game with an expectation that this is the opportunity for that to happen.

“That’s the beauty of sport – that you can go into a game and, if you get things right, then you can achieve things as a group that is almost beyond what anyone would think.

“I’m not going into this game against Toulouse with any other expectation than we’re going to try to win it. We’re not going into it just to see if we can hang in it, we’re going into it to win it.”

The return of England international Henry Slade, who had to sit out the Sharks clash due to a mandatory break, is certainly a major positive. He is one of five changes to their starting line-up.

The others see Will Goodrick-Clarke and Ehren Painter come into the front-row, while Rus Tuima comes in at lock and Ross Vintcent starts at No.8. On the bench, club captain Jack Yeandle, Kwenso Blose, Dafydd Jenkins and Zack Wimbush are also added.

Exeter Chiefs: Josh Hodge; Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, Ben Hammersley, Tamati Tua, Tommy Wyatt; Henry Slade, Stu Townsend; Will Goodrick-Clarke, Dan Frost, Ehren Painter; Rus Tuima, Richard Capstick; Ethan Roots, Jacques Vermeulen (c), Ross Vintcent. Replacements: Jack Yeandle, Kwenso Blose, Jimmy Roots, Dafydd Jenkins, Greg Fisilau, Will Becconsall, Will Haydon-Wood, Zack Wimbush.