Exeter Chiefs

Last season's finish: 9th

Director of rugby: Rob Baxter

Captain: Dafydd Jenkins

Star Player: Immanuel Feyi-Waboso

Young player to watch: Kane James

Notable ins:

Len Ikitau - Stephen Varney - Tom Hooper

Notable outs:

Dan Frost - Jacques Vermeulen - Joe Hawkins

Exeter have struggled over the past couple of seasons, ever since the core of their team that had so much success left. Only Henry Slade remains, and he can't do it by himself. Despite their lack of success, I do think that Exeter have had a good overall squad with quality players starting at most positions. That didn't stop them from suffering some catastrophic defeats; coaches were fired in the aftermath of a 79-17 defeat to Gloucester, for example. Now, it looks like Baxter has taken back more coaching control and he will now try to rejuvenate  a team that has underachieved recently.

So, what's changed? There has been a lot of turnover at the club over the summer. The likes of Franco Molina, Jack Innard, Dan Frost, Franco Molina and Jacques Vermeulen have all departed over the summer, which has left plenty of space for some new blood to come in. Dweba and Heaven are the new hookers and Blse, Mona and Tchumbadze have also joined but will be playing as props. Andrea Zambonin and Tom Hooper will bring some international quality to the pack. Those are a lot of new names, so what difference will they make? Exeter's front row was already a strength of the team and now they just have more depth across the front line. Zambonin will probably start next to Jenkins going forward in the second row and will also add something different to the team. Like Zambonin, Hooper joins a position group that does not lack depth but he'll start anyway. Hooper will compete with Roots for the blindside spot and they'll be plenty of other competitions across the pack to make the starting XV. Exeter's forwards will be a strength of the team in the 2025/26 season.

There have been more additions in the back line. Len Ikitau is the biggest name to join the side and he'll slot in next to Henry Slade in the midfield. They'll be joined by a back three of Brown-Bampoe, Feyi-Waboso and Hodge, who are all incredible athletes that will cause havoc for any opposition that they face. Exeter have a good pack, dangerous backs and successful off-field leadership but what could hold them back?

The one group I haven't mentioned is the half backs. This was an obvious issue last season and, if the reporting over the summer is to be believed, the Chiefs also know this. They have reportedly tried to sing Raffi Quirke, Nic White and a bunch of others to fix this problem. Instead, they ended up with Stephen Varney. Varney, an Italy international, left England to play for Vannes in the top 14 but left the club after it was relegated to ProD2. He is a better scrum half than their options last season but is an average Prem player and not at the level of Quirke or White.

The other position (fly half) has not been any better. Will Haydon-Wood and Harvey Skinner have been the options at the position for the last 2 seasons but neither has managed to earn the position outright. A mix of underwhelming performances and injuries meant that Exeter turned to Ben Coen instead. Coen has impressed with the England youth teams, and is an exciting prospect, but he struggled when thrown into the fire where he was unable to improve the situation. Baxter then moved Henry Slade inside, which steadied things for a while. That is not an ideal solution and Slade will move back to the centres this season. Haydon-Wood and Skinner are the starting options whilst Coen's development will be watched closely. Exeter have made some good signing but, without fixing key areas, they still lack the team to challenge at the top of the league.

Squad

(including some academy players)

Hooker

Joseph Dweba - Julian Heaven - Louie Gulley - Sol Moody - Max Norey - Jack Yeandle - Elliot Young

Prop

Keito Ando - Khwezi Blose - Ethan Burger - Will Goodrick-Clarke - Joseph Iosefa-Scott - Kwenzi Mona - Ehren Painter - Jimmy Roots - Scott Sio - Bachuki Tchumbadze

Lock

Joe Bailey - Oscar Beckerleg - Alfie Bell - Marlon Farouk-Roy - Dafydd Jenkins - Lewis Pearson - Ruis Tuima - Andrea Zambonin

Back row

Charlie Bell - Richard Capstick - Tom Hooper - Greg Fisilau - Jack Forsythe - Kane James - Martin Moloney - Ethan Roots - Christ Tshiunza - Ross Vintcent - Finn Worley-Brady

Scrum half

Charlie Chapman - Will Becconsall - Tom Cairns - Orson James - George Newman - Stephen Varney

Fly half

Ben Coen - Iwan Jenkins - Will Haydon-Wood - Louie Sinclair - Harvey Skinner

Centre

Nic Allison - Ollie Batson - Kian Gentry - Len Ikitau - Will Rigg - Campbell Ridl - Henry Slade - Tamati Tua - Zach Wimbush

Wing

Paul Brown-Bampoe - Immanuel Feyi-Waboso - Ben Hammersley - Olly Woodburn

Fullback

Tom Burton - Dan John - Josh Hodge - Tom Wyatt

Possible XV and bench

1.Scott Sio 2.Joseph Dweba 3.Josh Iosefa-Scott 4.Dafydd Jenkins 5.Andrea Zambonin

6.Tom Hooper 7.Ross Vintcent 8.Greg Fisilau 9.Stephen Varney 10.Harvey Skinner

11.Paul Brown-Bampoe 12.Len Ikitau 13.Henry Slade 14.Immanuel Feyi-Waboso 15.Josh Hodge

Bench

16.Jack Yeandle 17.Will Goodrick-Clarke 18.Ehren Painter 19.Ruis Tuima 

20.Ethan Roots 21.Kane James 22.Tom Cairns 23.Tommy Wyatt