Exeter boss Rob Baxter says he needs England centre Henry Slade’s experience at fly-half.
The 31-year-old has started at 10 in both of his matches for Chiefs since returning from international duty.
Exeter are still searching for a first win of the season in either the Premiership or European Champions Cup as Baxter prepares to take his side to Sale on Saturday.
Slade began his career as a fly-half before finding success at centre.
“When you talk about what you need on the field – what do we need right here and now? – we need some real strong leadership and some real strong guidance,” Baxter said.
“We need people with the confidence and that kind of – I’m not going to say cockiness because it’s the wrong word – but that self-belief to stand there and make decisions and make calls and back them up and get the team to believe in it and back it up and do it 100%.
“That’s why we put Sladey in at 10, to give him that opportunity to drive the game for us.”
With Tamati Tua returning to fitness, Baxter moved Slade inside with Ben Hammersley starting in Slade’s usual 13 shirt in the 64-21 thumping by Toulouse.
“Ideally would I like him (Slade) at 13? Right here and now I probably would,” added Baxter.
“But I’ve got to make the call on where I want him to play and I think at the start of games it works particularly well for us.
“I actually think moving him to 13 later in the game, as we had to make some changes, also worked well.
“So it’s not that we haven’t got options, we’ve got options, but I’m trying to create a little bit of control with a couple of senior players at nine and 10 that can kind of lead the way a little bit.”
