Rob Baxter believes that Exeter Chiefs can handle the derby-day pressure in order to see off Gloucester Rugby and climb back up the Aviva Premiership table.
Despite having lost their last two league outings, Exeter still remain in the division's top four ahead of their opening game of 2015.
Ninth-placed Gloucester are the latest visitors to Sandy Park this afternoon in a local affair which Baxter insists puts "positive pressure" on his side as they look to return to winning ways.
"We are under what you'd say is positive pressure and we want to put pressure on ourselves to stay at the top end," he is quoted as saying by Western Morning News.
"Gloucester, I suppose, are under a different pressure to get results and start climbing the league. This weekend, though, it's who uses the motivation the best. If we want to be successful, we have to shift our motivation.
"For us the opportunities are ahead if we continue to play well. It's not like previous years where we have been the team fighting to prove ourselves all the time. Now we have to move beyond that and we have to fight to show we are a good side who want to be at the right end of the table."
The Chiefs return to European Challenge Cup action later this month when they take on Connacht and Bayonne.
Daniel Lewis
