Exeter Chiefs will unleash yet another 'first team' squad in the Premiership Rugby Cup this weekend as the unbeaten Devon side host Cornish Pirates at Sandy Park in Round Five of the pool stages of the competition.

Chiefs, who won the Premiership Rugby Cup in 2022/23, look favourites to lift the trophy again, with Exeter director of rugby Rob Baxter continuing to go strong with his selections in the competition as his side build confidence and connectivity ahead of a return to the league where they have struggled so far this season.

Baxter said: “Cornish Pirates are a good, competitive Championship side. We had a really good fixture down there at the Mennaye earlier this season and we had a tough fixture last weekend against Hartpury away from home as well.

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“We expect quite a lot from Championship sides because we know they’re good sides. We’ve got players in that league on loan, so we know how much they benefit from the coaching and the rugby they play every week.

“From our perspective, we’re expecting it to be a good game with a decent crowd of supporters both of Chiefs and of Pirates so that they can enjoy a really good day’s rugby.”

The game kicks off at 3pm on Sunday.

Exeter Chiefs: 15 Tommy Wyatt, 14 Ben Hammersley, 13 Joe Hawkins, 12 Tamati Tua, 11 Paul Brown-Bampoe, 10 Will Haydon-Wood, 9 Tom Cairns; 1 Kwenzo Blose, 2 Jack Yeandle (c), 3 Jimmy Roots, 4 Rusi Tuima, 5 Franco Molina, 6 Ethan Roots, 7 Richard Capstick, 8 Jacques Vermeulen.

Replacements: 16 Dan Frost, 17 Billy Keast, 18 Marcus Street, 19 Lewis Pearson, 20 Martin Moloney, 21 Stu Townsend, 22 Dan John, 23 Charlie McCaig.

Cornish Pirates: 15 Bruce Houston 14 Arthur Relton 13 Tom Georgiou 12 Harry Yates 11 Will Trewin 10 Iwan Jenkins 9 Dan Hiscocks; 1 Oisin Michel 2 Harry Hocking 3 James French 4 Alfie Bell 5 Josh King (captain) 6 Matt Cannon 7 Lucas Dorrell 8 Tomi Agbongbon.

Replacements: 16 Sol Moody 17 Billy Young 18 Tom Connolly 19 Fintan Coleman 20 Chris Mills 21 Cam Jones 22 Joe Elderkin 23 Iwan Price-Thomas.

Referee: Alex Thomas

Assistant Referees: Jonathan Healy and Kevin Williams