EXETER Chiefs have rung the changes for their clash with Newcastle Falcons at Sandy Park tomorrow (2.30pm) after their hugely disappointing 40-5 Premiership defeat to Harlequins at Twickenham last weekend.

There are five new faces - all in the pack - with Dan Frost and Marcus Street starting in place of Jack Innard and the injured Harry Williams in the front row, whilst behind there is a new second-row pairing of Jannes Kirsten and Jack Dunne, while Dave Ewers is restored to the blindside flanker position.

Behind the scrum, the back division remains untouched, while on the bench there are recalls for Patrick Schickerling, Mike Williams, Aidon Davis and Rory O’Loughlin.

Victory is essential for Exeter tomorrow as the defeat in London saw them drop to eighth place in the table.

Chiefs' director of rugby Rob Baxter said: “There was disappointment and frustration around the performance, of course there was, but we have to use those feelings in the right way this weekend.

“If we’re honest, we didn’t get much right in the build-up to that game - and our performance showed that - and the responsibility of that lies at my door.

“Right now, we’re still very much in that fight for third and fourth spot, but we can't go on just going 'well win one, we'll lose one, we'll win one, we'll lose one' and expect to be anywhere near.

"We actually have got to go 'right there is an opportunity here and it's in our hands, but we do have to take it' and to take it we're going to have to put in some away performances without doubt. We can't just say 'let's knock our home games off' because the season's gone well beyond that for us."

Baxter is aware of the threat posed by Newcastle, who won the corresponding fixture at Kingston Park 24-21 back in November.

“They are a side who with a lot of territory can score points against you,” he said. “They did that to do us up at their place and they’ve done it a lot in recent games. We know we will need to be good across a lot of areas - set-piece, defensive disciplinary, especially in the middle third, and attacking discipline - but if we can do that, then we’ll control the game.

“At the same time, they are a side who are also playing with a lot of freedom, so that brings its own dangers as well.”

Freddie Lockwood starts in the back row for Newcastle, who also welcome full-back Elliott Obatoyinbo back into their starting XV.

He joins an otherwise unchanged back-line, and the only other switches in the side seeing Pedro Rubiolo moving into the second row and Richard Palframan coming in at tight-head prop.

Head coach Dave Walder determined his side will start more quickly than they did last time out against London Irish.

Trailing 19-0 against the Exiles, the Falcons drew back to 19-19 before losing out in the closing quarter, and Walder said: “You just can’t afford to give teams a head start in a league as good as this.

“The resilience we’ve got in the group is fantastic to see and the lads will always give their all in battling back from difficult situations, but you don’t want to be in that position every week.

“We’re having to call on that resilience much more often than we would like to because we’ve allowed teams to build a lead against us. We’ve got the game plan in place – we just need to go out there on the day and do it rather than having to rally halfway through the match.”

Walder added: “We have to focus on getting our processes right, which is ultimately what will give us more chances to win games.

“We want as many wins as possible between now and the end of the season regardless of what league position that puts us in, and Saturday will be a good test.

“Exeter are a strong side even though they had a big defeat away to Harlequins last weekend, and we’re under no illusions about the quality we’ll be facing.

“We’ve beaten them once this season and we won down there on our last visit, so we’ve shown we can do it. But it all hinges on getting our processes right and implementing the game plan from the start.”

Exeter: J Hodge, J Nowell (capt), I Whitten, S Kata, O Woodburn, H Skinner, S Maunder, S Sio, D Frost, M Street, J Kirsten, J Dunne, D Ewers, J Vermeulen, S Simmonds. Replacements: J Yeandle, D Southworth, P Schickerling, M Williams, A Davis, J Maunder, J Simmonds, R O'Loughlin.

Newcastle: E Obatoyinbo, A Radwan, M Moroni, M Orlando, M Carreras, B Connon, M Young (capt); A Brocklebank, J Blamire, R Palframan, P Rubiolo, S de Chaves, F Lockwood, C Chick, C Fearns. Replacements: O Fletcher, L Mulipola, M Tampin, M Dalton, T Marshall, S Stuart, P Lucock, I Stephens.

Referee: Tom Foley.