Chris Whitehead ready to make most of Heineken Cup

But Exeter‘s all-action hooker has vowed to put the pain of rejection behind him by proving his worth in next season’s Heineken Cup.
Whitehead pressed his claims with a string of impressive performances last season as Exeter finished fifth in the Premiership and Chiefs head coach Rob Baxter backed his player’s case for recognition, as did other seasoned observers.
But it made no impression on the selectors, who went for third-choice Leicester hooker Tom Youngs.
Whitehead, 26, told The Rugby Paper: “I hit some decent form and was devastated not to be on the plane or to have had a call. But I understand that you’ve got to be consistent and, with hard work, I’m hopefully going to prove what I can do.
“I’m desperate to play for England, it’s every boy’s dream, but just for people to be talking about me in terms of England is a massive honour.
“I was devastated, yes, and no one from England spoke to me, but you can’t get depressed because, hopefully, I’ve still got a chance.”
Whitehead will have the perfect opportunity to enhance his cause when the Chiefs tackle Europe’s big guns in next season’s Heineken Cup.
Some clubs would consider being pitted in a pool containing champions Leinster, Clermont Auvergne and the Scarlets a daunting proposition.
But not the ambitious Chiefs, who tend to take these mighty challenges in their stride.
Whitehead said: “I watched the draw in our physio room and it’s fantastic…  really exciting. It’s finally hit home that we’re part of the Heineken Cup.
“I’d rather play against the big teams and I’m over the moon that we’ve got Leinster, Clermont and Scarlets, as are the other boys.
“History suggests we tend to turn up for the bigger occasions and the bigger the better as far as we’re concerned.
“We always knew the draw would be tough but it’s something to really look forward to… it’s fairytale stuff, isn’t it?
“It doesn’t come through luck, though, it comes from hard work and the people off the field will be delighted we’ve got these fixtures.
“We’ll have loads of fans from Ireland, France and Wales down and the marketing team will be overjoyed to be selling out games.
“It’s great for the city in general and everybody’s buzzing about Exeter Chiefs here.
“It’s a fantastic time to be at Exeter right now and people are so happy to be part of it, players, coaches, management and fans alike.”
Whitehead hopes success on European rugby’s biggest stage will lead to more Chiefs players following Tom Johnson into the England set-up.
He added: “What TJ has done inspires us all massively. He’s a big mate and I’m overjoyed for him.
“He thoroughly deserves to be where he is and now that Tom’s there it’s great because people are talking about Exeter as a club, and we deserve that.
“People like to write us off, but we’re ambitious and we deal with that and it’s onwards and upwards for next season now.
“It’s probably going to be our hardest season with Heineken Cup as well as Premiership, but it’s something we’re all looking forward to.”
NEALE HARVEY