Exeter Chiefs club captain Jack Yeandle will make his 200th Premiership appearance for the club in the big West Country Premiership derby against Bath at Sandy Park tomorrow (3pm).

Yeandle returns to the starting line-up for Luke Cowan-Dickie at hooker as the Cornishman is struggling with a neck issue sustained in last weekend’s Heineken Champions Cup victory over Vodacom Bulls.

Other changes see Tongan international Solomone Kata - who impressed off the bench last weekend - start in the centre in place of Rory O’Loughlin, while Josh Hodge comes in at full-back, with Stuart Hogg named amongst the replacements after limping off last week.

Sam Maunder is fit to play at scrum-half despite ongoing cramp issues, but replacement number nine Will Becconsall is out after getting injured against the South Africans, so youngster Tom Cairns will make his Premiership debut if he comes off the bench, while there is also a return to the match-day 23 for centre Tom Hendrickson

Speaking about the game, Chiefs' director of rugby Rob Baxter said: "The key for us now is not to draw breath. We’ve had two fantastic weeks in the Champions Cup, but now we have to decide to up what we want to do.

"If we push harder now and have a few good weeks, then all of a sudden the Premiership table can transform and we can sit here and say we are genuinely competitive in every competition

.“Right now, the league is so tight that a run of form from any side and you can transform your situation rapidly.

"Bath are currently one win behind us, yet if they win this weekend, they can overtake us, that’s the truth. We have to acknowledge that fact and use it as a real driver for us and something which focuses us emotionally.

“That said, we have discussed those things early in the week, the players have trained well, better than last week, so I am already hopeful we are further down the line in terms of preparing for Bath this weekend.”

Exeter: J Hodge, J Nowell, H Slade, S Kata, O Woodburn, J Simmonds, S Maunder, S Sio, J Yeandle (capt), H Williams, D Jenkins, J Gray, D Ewers, C Tshiunza, S Simmonds. Replacements: D Frost, J Iosefa-Scott, P Schickerling, R Van Heerden, S Grondona, T Cairns, T Hendrickson, S Hogg.