By Mark Stevens
14/9/22
Alec Hepburn says he and his Exeter Chiefs team-mates must use their opening day win over defending Gallagher Premiership champions, Leicester Tigers, as the initial building block for their season ahead.
The Chiefs kicked off the new campaign in style, defeating the Tigers 24-20 at Sandy Park, thanks to a last-gasp score from prop Patrick Schickerling.
It was the perfect intro for Rob Baxter’s side, who are now readying themselves for this Sunday’s trip to Worcester Warriors.
For Hepburn, the victory was merely a start and he insists “the best is still to come” from the Chiefs, who are looking to bounce back after missing out on a play-off spot last season for the first time in six years.
“It’s a building block, but we don’t want to get too wrapped up on things,” said the England international. “Leicester have had a shorter pre-season than us, so they may be a little under-cooked, but for a first game, it was a good result and we’ll take it.
“Now, we’ve got to use it to build for the rest of the season because the best is still to come.”
With Worcester next on the agenda, Hepburn and the Chiefs will be mindful of the fact that the Midlanders have themselves endured a sticky few months, where their very existence has come under close scrutiny.
“We’ve already started talking about Worcester,” said Hepburn. “We lost to them up there last season and we lost other close games as well, so I think our focus levels will be pretty high for the weekend.”
Certainly, focus and hard work have been the order of the day for the Chiefs during the summer, one in which they were put through a rigorous pre-season programme.
“I can safely say, that’s the toughest pre-season I’ve ever done,” admitted Hepburn. “Albeit tough, it was all done in good spirit and has put us in a great place. That said, the cross-heirs have always been on the Leicester game; we’ve had this on our mind for a while and I think it showed. We had talked a lot about Leicester and doing something special, which is what we did.
“You could a lot of emotion pour out of that game, especially at the end, but we wanted to get off on the right foot.”
