Championship
MATAVESI CALLED UP BY FIJI
Picture: Nigel Chanter
Exeter Chiefs’ full back Josh Matavesi was called up by Fiji for their end of season tour in Europe. Matavesi, who can also play at centre and fly half, joined the full international squad for tests against Scotland, Ireland and Romania. Truro-born Matavesi qualifies to play for Fiji through his father. He said,“I never dreamed I would get the chance to potentially play international rugby so early on in my career. That said, I will miss Sandy Park and I will be looking forward to playing for the Chiefs again in December. I am grateful to the club for supporting my decision.”
Toma for Tonga
Doncaster Knights’ Tongan International Prop Toma Toke was called up for the Tongan squad contesting this year’s autumn internationals. Toma, now in his second full season at Doncaster Knights, has become an integral part of the front row setup alongside his compatriot Ngalu Tau at Castle Park. Having already played in the IRB Rugby World Cup in 2007 and been part of the Pacific Islanders squad the Castle Park player is seeing a consistency in his international game that bodes well for the future.
Baxter boys keeping keen
Dave Barton
Exeter boss Rob Baxter is keeping his Chiefs hungry for action in their quest for promotion to the Guinness Premiership. The Chiefs may be riding high in the Championship but the Head Coach knows that he needs to keep his squad in good shape for the business end of the season - the play-offs. Baxter has rotated his 36 players effectively to date and he said: “We have certainly got a bubbling squad here who are keen and enthusiastic and desperate to play. We have managed to keep them pretty fit and rotate the squad. “We have been very open with the players from day one – they are very aware that it’s the team going into perhaps the last 10 games of the season on form, with the freshest and fittest players that are going to do the best. They want to be the guys on form leading into the period because they want to make a bit of history.”
Baxter has also tapped into a rich pool of talent from the club’s England Rugby Academy, saying: “We made some big decisions at the start of the season about which way we wanted to go and one of the key things was that we were going to involve the Academy completely. We have skirted around it for a number of years for various reasons but we have now made a decision that we were going to embrace it totally. “The best young Academy players train with us on a regular basis and half a dozen of them live in the club house down the road so we get to see them on a daily basis. They are working with the full coaching staff and the senior team and we have a couple of gems, not just for this season but for further down the line.”
One of those is 19-year-old Josh Matavesi – born in Truro after his father toured Cornwall with the Fijian Barbarians and decided to stay. The England Under-18 international is relishing the Championship challenge, saying: “The pressure on match day is huge and to know you have to perform at your maximum week in week out is a big ask but I’m enjoying it. And credit to all the boys, it’s a hard competition but they have fronted up and at the moment we are doing well.”
