Exeter Chiefs star: ‘This season is about regaining respect within this league.’
Exeter Chiefs players celebrating with an inset of Paul Brown-Bampoe
For Exeter Chiefs, the upcoming season is about one thing and one thing only. Revenge.
The Devonians endured one of the toughest years in the clubs recent history last season, in almost every department. On the pitch, they slumped to their lowest-ever finish since they won promotion to the top flight, while off the pitch, coaches Omar Mouneimne, Ali Hepher and Rob Hunter were all handing their marching orders as Rob Baxter returned to the hot seat.
That frighteningly poor season was the culmination of years of change at Exeter. In 2023, the core of the club’s double-winning squad all headed to pastures new, and while they mounted a play-off push for large parts, the following year after they ultimately missed out after a late-season dip.
But, that has left the club with a chip on their shoulder heading into the new campaign.
The Chiefs, buoyed by both a rise in the salary cap and a rise in revenue to almost pre-pandemic levels, have hit the market hard to bring about quick-fire change.
Len Ikitau, Tom Hooper and Julian Heaven have become the latest to swap Australian shores for the Jurassic Coast. Springbok hooker Joseph Dweba also joins a rich line of Saffas to call Devon their home. Stephen Varney and Andrea Zambonin become the latest Italian internationals to join the club alongside Ross Vintcent, while Charlie Chapman and Georgian behemoth Bachuki Tchumbadze have also now joined the club.
There has also been a change in the coaching box again this year. Former Newcastle Falcons boss and Bristol Bears and England U20s attack coach Dave Walder has joined Baxter’s staff to lead the attack, while the esteemed director of rugby is once again back in charge of on-field matters.
‘This season is about regaining respect’
These moves are clearly signs of intent from the West Country outfit, but this season isn’t purely about improvement; it’s about putting respect back on their name.
“(Our aim is) revenge,” star winger Paul Brown-Bampoe tells Planet Rugby. “It’s to regain respect.”
“When you’re losing games by 50-point margins, you just look at yourself and think ‘What the **** is going on’. How can I say I’m a professional rugby player and I’m letting these scorelines happen, and I’m on the pitch when they’re happening.
“This season is about regaining respect within this league. Not necessarily for what we’ve been known for in the past, but for what we’re becoming; a team with an incredibly dangerous backline, dynamic, mobile forwards who can take teams on from any part of the pitch. We’ll see how it comes into play at the start of the season.
“With everything that happened last year, we’re a bit vengeful and spiteful about it. It was frustration mixed with anger and definite disappointment. This time last year, when pre-season ended, we thought things were going to go entirely different, and then they just went so horribly wrong.”
Exeter’s mission to put respect back on their name will be no easy task, considering the sheer toll last year took on all involved at Sandy Park, but it’s made even harder by the rest of the league.
The Prem is an exponentially harder challenge this season. Red Bull’s takeover of Newcastle promises to turn them into a more competitive side overnight, reigning champions Bath will be out to build a dynasty under Johann van Graan, Northampton Saints will be buoyed by their run to the Champions Cup final and Leicester Tigers will again be a force to contend with under new boss Geoff Parling.
Louis Rees-Zammit makes decison on future as Prem return confirmed
Elsewhere, Owen Farrell, Louis Rees-Zammit, Danilo Fischetti, Tom Jordan, Tom Christie and Henry Arundell are just some of the X-factor names coming to the English top flight this season.
With the league only going from strength to strength, it could be easy for Exeter to look externally and quiver, but Brown-Bampoe insists the club are only looking at themselves in the build-up to their opening round visit to Franklin’s Gardens.
“Our focus right now is to be the best versions of ourselves, he says. “It’s to have the best skills, be the fittest and be cohesive as a team, and then when we actually have games, then we can look at our game.”
“The vibe right now is that we’re leaving no stone unturned. Be it fitness, handling, tackling, everything is being covered to make sure we’re confident heading into the first game of the season.”
‘That’s been exactly what we needed’
That internal focus is crucial to any rebuild, as the Chiefs are undertaking right now, but they are also building an attack from scratch under new assistant Walder.
The former England U20s assistant joined the Chiefs in the latter part of last season, following the dismissal of Hepher and Hunter, and it seems he’s already had a marked improvement on their attack.
“Dave’s completely reinvigorated our attack,” Brown-Bampoe exclaims.
“He’s placed massive emphasis on skill levels and maintaining the quality of them, and that’s been exactly what we needed.
“His philosophy is ‘get on top, stay on top’. Everything is about speed, gaining momentum and then not taking your foot off. Ultimately, that wins games. Once you’re on top and you can keep hammering defences, you’re winning games. But to do that, you need to be ultra, ultra fit, and we’ve been smashing a lot of fitness.
“This pre-season is definitely harder than last year, especially running load, but we’re already seeing the fruits of that. Everyone is bumping down their bronco times, so it’s working.
The full impact of Walder still remains to be seen, given they have only had one game last season with him running the attack, but one man with a rich pedigree of success in the South West is the returning Baxter.
Fondly known as the ‘King of Exeter’, Baxter has become synonymous with the Chiefs. As a player, he notched nearly 300 games and upon taking the reins as head coach, took the Chiefs into another stratosphere.
Upon his return to front-line duties, Baxter was open with both players and media alike that standards across the club needed to rise if they were to become successful once again, and breakthrough winger Brown-Bampoe feels they have certainly done just that.
“There’s a lot more accountability, that’s the main word. Mistakes happen in rugby and in pre-season when boys are rusty, but we’re not laissez-faire about that anymore. When you make a mistake, you’re sorry about it, you don’t just move on.”
Exeter have a tough time of it in the early rounds, starting off with a trip to Northampton before facing Newcastle, Bristol, Harlequins and Gloucester, but if they can get through that first block unscathed their revenge mission will be on course to succeed.