Three years ago this weekend Exeter Chiefs were gearing themselves up for a home date with Rotherham Titans in the first year of the new-look RFU Championship.
This evening, Sandy Park will be packed to the rafters as the Devon club prepare to entertain top French outfit Clermont Auvergne for the first-ever Heineken Cup game staged in the Westcountry (6pm).
In the 36 months that have ensued between the two fixtures, it's hard to quantify just how much has been achieved by the Chiefs in what is perceived as a relatively short space of time in sporting terms.
The Exeter Chiefs hooker looks back in anger - and forward in hope - in his latest column...
I ended last week’s column saying “until next time”. I can’t believe it’s been a week: it seems like only five minutes has passed until “next time” has arrived. So this week’s post is brought to you courtesy of inspiration - but probably most of all frustration.
What a fantastic adventure and experience to go over and play the four-time Heineken Cup champions in their own backyard and come away with a losing bonus point.
On the 27th September the annual Northcott Beaton Insurance Brokers Golf Day took place at Woodbury Park. This year the chosen charity for the event was The Exeter Foundation. The main aim to the Exeter Foundation is to provide the City of Exeter and its surrounding areas (The Greater Exeter) with a ‘Civic Trust’ that will promote our community and pursue the vision of people who live and work there. The Foundation will act as a fundraising body with a commitment to the future prosperity of Greater Exeter, and also as a vehicle for promoting collective civic pride. The Exeter Foundation...
They have a warning around these parts 'Beware of the Wounded Tiger'.
Having come unstuck at home to defending Aviva Premiership champions Harlequins on home soil the week previous, Leicester Tigers clearly had no intentions of suffering a similar fate as they welcome Exeter Chiefs into town.
Undone twice in the top flight by Rob Baxter's side last term, there would be no repeat this time round for the Tigers, who ran in three tries through winger Adam Thompstone, plus a further 15 points from the boot of fly-half Toby Flood.
If anyone knows how dangerous the new kids on the block can be, then Exeter Chiefs should know better than anybody. Two years ago it was Rob Baxter's side causing a stir in the Aviva Premiership when they overcame the renowned Gloucester in their first-ever top flight fixture. Now, present day, it's the turn of London Welsh to take on the role of the division's underdogs and look to upset the great and good of the English game. Sadly for the Chiefs their first-ever trip to Kassam Stadium ended in misery as a late converted try from Ed Jackson proved sufficient for the Exiles to claim their...
