EXETER Chiefs director of rugby Rob Baxter has picked a side with one eye on next season as they bring the curtain down on their Premiership campaign with a trip to London Irish tomorrow (4pm).

Only one of the players who is leaving this summer features in the match-day 23 – South African lock Jannes Kirsten – and that is because of an injury to Jonny Gray, and a suspension for his fellow second-row Dafydd Jenkins.

Baxter has made wholesale changes with only five of last weekend’s starting line-up for the 47-28 Heineken Champions Cup semi-final defeat to La Richelle in Bordeaux last Sunday remaining in place for the clash with the Exiles.

Henry Slade is one of them and will skipper the side from centre, but he is joined in the backline by highly-rated winger Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, who is set to make his first ever Premiership start.

Explaining his decision to leave out the likes of Jack Nowell, Stuart Hogg, Sam and Joe Simmonds, and Dave Ewers, Baxter said he believed the semi-final was the most fitting occasion for the Chiefs to bid farewell to their departing cast.

“The week’s been alright,” he said. “Yes, it’s been tough in some ways and great in other ways. The first meeting I had with the players, I filled them in with how we were going to select the team, just because we are going to make considerable changes for the weekend. I don’t mind saying, if we give selection away to London Irish nice and early, the team is going to be largely based on players who are going to be here next season.

“I think that’s the right thing to do, but the first message I put out to the players was ‘right guys, nobody is being punished here’. My job is to look ahead and move forward. I know there are guys who want to play this weekend because they want to play their last game for the club in the last game of the season, but in some ways – and I know the game was a loss - that game last week was a pretty fitting way for some of those guys to finish their careers with us.

“Playing in a fantastic stadium in what was a huge game, that for me is a great way to finish. I think this is something that they will probably get their heads around in the next day or two because they were very frustrated after the game. What they have to remember, however, is good teams lose semi-finals. Some incredible teams have lost in Heineken Cup semi-finals over many years. Two good teams advance and two good teams bow out, but you should that experience to move forward.

“If that game defines your career, it’s still a pretty big game to play in. If that’s your last game, it’s still a great occasion to be involved in. That’s what I will remind the guys of this week. Yes, this week will be full of emotion because we are losing quite a few boys who have been here for some time. Together they’ve been incredible men at this club and enjoyed some incredible times together. The flip side, however, is we have to make it exciting as well for the group who are here and staying.

“I’ve always been a big believer in saying it’s the men in the room that will make things happen. I actually said that to the lads before the La Rochelle game. I told them how we start that game, what we do here, is all about you as the men in the room. The stadium may be packed with French supporters, but what we do is about what we say and do in here. To be fair, we turned up, we got into the game and we were competitive for large parts of that game. At the end of the day, we weren’t quite good enough.

“Moving forward, though, I know we will be better for the experience. When you look back, especially some of those early years, we went to France and we got annihilated at times. Clermont that first time was scary, we faced Toulon in their pomp. Every one of those trips, however, was a learning experience and that is the stuff you look back on and you draw strength from.

“Not one of those games defined us as a club and not one thing now will define us. Guys will learn from it all and I know we will be much better for it in the future.”

Looking ahead to tomorrow's match at the Gtech Community Stadium – which was in doubt earlier in the week until the London Irish players were paid their wages for April on Thursday – Baxter added: “We’re excited and ready to go. We’ve made changes and it won’t be perfect, I know that. Games, though, are never perfect.

"What I expect from our guys is an energetic, enthusiastic, never-say-die performance. If we can produce that, then hopefully the result takes care of itself. What it will also do, however, is set the foundations from which I want us to build next season.”

London Irish: 15 Henry Arundell, 14 Ben Loader, 13 Benhard van Rensburg, 12 Rory Jennings, 11 Lucio Cinti, 10 Paddy Jackson, 9 Ben White, 1 Danilo Fischetti, 2 Agustin Creevy, 3 Oliver Hoskins, 4 Api Ratuniyarawa, 5 Rob Simmons, 6 Matt Rogerson (c), 7 Juan Martin Gonzalez, 8 So’otala Fa’aso’o. Replacements: 16 Mike Willemse, 17 Tarek Haffar, 18 Lovejoy Chawatama, 19 Josh Caulfield, 20 Tom Pearson, 21 Chandler Cunningham-South, 22 Joe Powell, 23 James Stokes.

Exeter Chiefs: Josh Hodge, Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, Henry Slade (capt), Ollie Devoto, Tom Wyatt, harvey Skinner, Stu Townsend, Alec Hepburn Jack Innard, Josh Iosefa-Scott, Jannes Kirsten, Jack Dunne, Jacques Vermeulen, Christ Tshiunza, Greg Fisilau. Replacements: Iestyn Harris, Billy Keast, Marcus Street, Mike Williams, Aidon Davis, Tom cairns, Tom Hendrickson, Dan John.

Referee: Luke Pearce.