Exeter
Ins Alex Cuthbert (Cardiff Blues).
Outs Will Chudley (Bath Rugby), Harrison Cully (Brixham RFC), Ed Holmes (Bristol Bears), Kai Horstmann (retired), Shaun Malton (Bristol Bears), Carl Rimmer (retired), Julian Salvi (retired), Lachlan Turner (retired), Thomas Waldrom (Wellington Lions).
What’s new?
Publicly, very little. Besides academy graduates, Alex Cuthbert, who like Jack Nowell is sidelined for now, is the only new face to join a settled squad. Privately, they may have worked on a few tactical tweaks and intricate strike moves.
Who is the director of rugby and what is the game plan?
Exeter held possession, on average, for 23min 40sec per match during last season’s Premiership campaign. The next-highest figure in that category was Newcastle, with 19min 18sec. Relentless ball retention and set-piece efficiency are Rob Baxter’s pillars.
Key man
While engineroom buddies Mitch Lees and Jonny Hill return to fitness, lock Sam Skinner underpins Exeter’s pack. Another quietly excellent season can put him on Eddie Jones’s Rugby World Cup radar too. He is a sound line-out jumper and a gain-line bully on both sides of the ball.
Most exciting signing?
Julian Salvi slips on to Baxter’s backroom team as a defence coach. He will doubtlessly focus on the breakdown and creating opportunities with turnover ball. Matt Kvesic, Luke Cowan-dickie and Dave Ewers are all fine poachers already. With Salvi’s guidance, Chiefs could infuriate opponents yet further.
Who has it all to prove?
Slotting a 21-year-old fly-half into this category feels seriously harsh. Then again, the ambitious passing game and running threat of Joe Simmonds can provide his team with another dimension. Henry Slade (left), an important playmaker whichever shirt he wears, could probably join this section as well. Head coach Ali Hepher says he has sought to hone decision-making, rather than rip up Exeter’s familiar attacking patterns, in pre-season. For the club as a whole, reaching the knockout rounds of the Champions Cup feels important.
If they were an international side they would be ...
Ireland. Exeter Chief promote youth readily and cycle through plenty of phases, often beginning in their own territory from restarts. Baxter will hope that silverware follows, as it has for Joe Schmidt.