EXETER Chiefs will be hoping the return of Henry Slade will help them in their quest to return to winning ways in the Premiership Rugby Cup tomorrow.

The England international will start for Rob Baxter’s side as they tackle holders Bath at the Recreation Ground (3.05pm).

Slade has been sidelined since injuring his hand whilst on international duty earlier this summer during England’s tour to Argentina. He is, however, one of six changes the visitors have made to their starting line-up following last week’s 29-15 loss to Gloucester.

In the back division, Slade is joined by Dan John and Josh Hodge, both of whom have also overcome early season niggles, while in the pack, a new-look front-row includes debutant Bachuki Tchumbadze, alongside Kwenzo Blose and Jack Yeandle, who will skipper the side.

Looking ahead to the clash, Director of Rugby Baxter said: “The players have been brilliant this week, very engaged in everything we have looked at, and they were aware of the problems we had at Gloucester. They came out of their own players’ meeting and said we know what the problem was, which was a ten-minute period where they had a little bit of a wobble.

“We had a tough call go against us in the second half – and the period after that we gave away four penalties, we lost our cool, and that really hurt us. We’ve talked about that, recognising certain things and now we have to get ourselves back on track. Having that slap in that face so early in the season, I think, can be a benefit across the season.

“The game last week was very fine margins, so we have to learn to convert those finer moments to make games go our way.”

Standing in the way of the Chiefs, however, are a Bath outfit, who last season pocketed three pieces of silverware. As well as the Premiership Rugby Cup, they also took the European Challenge Cup and the Gallagher Premiership.

They are tipped by many to do well again this season, especially having recruited the likes of Henry Arundell, Santi Carreras and Chris Harris to their ranks.

With two games this weekend, Bath have opted to use this evening’s friendly at Worcester Warriors as the ideal opportunity to run many of their frontline stars ahead of next week’s Premiership opener.

Instead, the Chiefs will tackle a youthful-looking home side in the Roman City.

Baxter added: “The key is for us to stay tough throughout the game, to capitalise when the game starts to go our way. The work we’ve done in pre-season around the fundamentals of our game has been good, so we need to build on that. We’ve got to create our own momentum.”

Bath Rugby: Jack Woods; Austin Emens, Louie Hennessey, Will Butt, Tyler Offiah; James Linegar, Tom Carr-Smith; Scott Kirk, Jasper Spandler, Kieran Verden; Harvey Cuckson, Ewan Richards (capt); Ethan Staddon, Thomson Cowan, Arthur Green. Replacements: Max Pearce, Mikey Summerfield, Alfie Griffin, Will Jeanes, Alex Ridgway, Neil le Roux, Charlie Griffin, George Timmins

Exeter Chiefs: Josh Hodge; Paul Brown-Bampoe, Ben Hammersley, Henry Slade, Dan John; Harvey Skinner, Stephen Varney; Kwenzo Blose, Jack Yeandle (capt), Bachuki Tchumbadze; Rus Tuima, Lewis Pearson; Ethan Roots, Christ Tshiunza, Ross Vintcent. Replacements: Joseph Dweba, Will Goodrick-Clarke, Josh Iosefa-Scott, Andrea Zambonin, Kane James, Charlie Chapman, Ben Coen, Nick Lilley