Stu Townsend: Exeter scrum-half ready to fight for place after injury return

Stu Townsend's only appearance this season came in the 25-15 win at Sale in early October

Exeter scrum-half Stu Townsend is ready to fight for his place in the squad as he prepares to return from injury.

The 26-year-old - who started the 2017 Premiership final win over Wasps - has only played once this season after undergoing shoulder surgery in October.

He is set to feature in the Premiership Rugby Cup tie against Worcester.

"Hopefully I get a good run out on Saturday and then push forward and back into the Premiership squad," Townsend told BBC Sport.

Townsend's shoulder injury was the latest blow to the scrum-half who has also suffered serious knee problems and a foot injury.

"It's very frustrating, but it's one of those things you have to take in professional sport," added the Exeter academy graduate.

"It has been pretty frustrating. The first couple of weeks was a bit like 'it's happened again', but once you get into rehab and start focusing on the things that can get you back, then I felt good."

In Townsend's absence fellow home-grown scrum-half Jack Maunder has cemented his role as Exeter's first choice with his younger brother Sam being preferred as back-up.

"The worst bit is watching the games on the Saturday, watching all the boys run out there and you're not out there," added Townsend, who has not started a game since a 21-20 Premiership win over Harlequins just over a year ago.

"But it kind of inspires you to get back and gives you a bit of fight as you want to get back to where you were."

Exeter's skills coach Ricky Pellow says the club's final Premiership Rugby Cup pool game affords Townsend the perfect chance to get himself back into game-playing mode:

"It gives him an opportunity to back up what he's been doing in the training weeks building up to this game," he told BBC Sport.

"For any player coming back form injury, it's about getting yourself back up to scratch from a technical and a tactical perspective, but also physically.

"So for him it's a great opportunity to get some minutes, to get him back into a Chiefs shirt and then just as a group of nines, to start putting pressure on the nines within the Premiership squad."