DAFYDD Jenkins will make his first start of the season as Exeter Chiefs look to record their first Gallagher Premiership win of the 2024/25 campaign at Sale Sharks tomorrow (5.30pm).

The Welsh international has been sidelined since the summer having undergone knee and shoulder surgery, but he made a second half outing in last weekend’s Investec Champions Cup loss to Toulouse at Sandy Park.

With minutes under his belt, Chiefs’ Director of Rugby, Rob Baxter, has wasted little time in restoring the powerful second-row forward to his starting line-up.

Jenkins, 22, is one of six changes the Chiefs have made from last weekend. He forms a new partnership with Franco Molina in the Exeter engine-room, whilst others included in the pack are props Scott Sio and Marcus Street, as well as No.8 Greg Fisilau.

The sole change to the back division sees Olly Woodburn return after a hamstring injury. He comes in on the left wing with Tom Wyatt taking over at full-back at the expense of Josh Hodge.

Tomorrow’s test promises to be another stiff challenge for the Devonians, who are winless in seven Premiership and two Champions Cup starts this season.

Baxter, though, says he and his side will not shy away from the task of securing results.

“The reality is that going to Sale at any point in the season is always going to be tough,” said Baxter. “We’ve had some good results there and some not so good results there, but we’ve just got to get on with things.

“We need games of rugby, we need to play and grow as a side. Games will make us better, they won’t make us worse, so we have got to approach it in that kind of way.

“We’re not sitting here thinking we’re miles off because we’ve just had a bit of a lesson from Toulouse, it doesn’t feel like that. Instead, we have to go to Sale and try to be a very competitive Premiership team, because that’s what you have to do every week.

“This weekend, we’re going fully loaded. We’re not thinking about Gloucester the week after and a chance to get a win at home, we’re not approaching things that way. We’re going to go after everything game by game, as that’s how we’ll get better and give ourselves the best chance to crate a strong group of players to form the best team we can in the future.”

Sale, who currently sit sixth in the league standings heading into this weekend, will have three familiar faces in their match-day squad.

Former Chiefs Luke Cowan-Dickie and Jonny Hill both start in the home pack, while another Exeter old-boy, Tom O’Flaherty, is named amongst the replacements.

EXETER CHIEFS: Tom Wyatt; Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, Ben Hammersley, Tamani Tua, Olly Woodburn; Henry Slade, Stu Townsend; Scott Sio, Dan Frost, Marcus Street; Dafydd Jenkins (capt), Franco Molina; Ethan Roots, Ross Vintcent, Greg Fisilau. Replacements: Jack Yeandle, Kwenso Blose, Jimmy Roots, Richard Capstick, Jacques Vermeulen, Will Becconsall, Will Haydon-Wood, Josh Hodge.