Yahoo Sports Slade returns as Exeter face champions Toulouse
Investec Champions Cup: Exeter Chiefs v Toulouse
Venue: Sandy Park, Exeter Date: Sunday, 15 December Kick-off: 17:30 GMT
Coverage: Listen to live commentary on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra, BBC Radio Devon and BBC Sounds, follow live text commentary on the BBC Sport website and app
England centre Henry Slade returns to steer Exeter from fly-half as they welcome champions Toulouse to Sandy Park in the Investec Champions Cup.
Slade is one of five Exeter changes after being rested for their opening Pool 1 defeat by South African side Sharks in Durban.
The other alterations come in the pack as props Will Goodrick-Clarke and Ehren Painter, lock Rusi Tuima and number eight Ross Vintcent are all recalled.
Toulouse have made four changes from the side which kickstarted the defence of their title with a nine-try thumping of Ulster last Sunday.
Juan Cruz Mallia is named on the wing, while prop Rodrigue Neti, hooker Julien Marchand and flanker Francois Cros are named in the starting XV.
France scrum-half Antoine Dupont retains the captaincy in his influential half-back partnership with Romain Ntamack.
Exeter, who are bottom of the Premiership table, beat Toulouse in the Champions Cup semi-finals on their way to a maiden title in 2020, and director of rugby Rob Baxter says his players can cause an upset.
"I'm still one of these really positive people," said Baxter.
"I've seen groups of players in Exeter Chiefs teams achieve incredible things. I go into every game with an expectation that this is the opportunity for that to happen.
"That's the beauty of sport – that you can go into a game and, if you get things right, then you can achieve things as a group that is almost beyond what anyone would think.
"I'm not going into this game against Toulouse with any other expectation than we're going to try to win it. We're not going into it just to see if we can hang in it, we're going into it to win it."
Line-ups
Exeter: Hodge; Feyi-Waboso, Hammersley, Tua, Wyatt; Slade, Townsend; Goodrick-Clarke, Frost, Painter, Tuima, Capstick, E Roots, Vermeulen (capt), Vintcent.
Replacements: Yeandle, Blose, J Roots, Jenkins, Fisilau, Becconsall, Haydon-Wood, Wimbush.
Toulouse: Ramos; Mallia, Barassi, Chocobares, Lebel; R Ntamack, Dupont (capt); Neti, Marchand, Aldegheri, Flament, Meafou, Cros, Willis, Roumat.
Replacements: Cramont, Ainu'u, Merkler, Brennan, T Ntamack, Castro-Ferreira, Graou, Kinghorn.
Referee: Andrew Brace (Ireland)
