Jack Nowell and brothers Joe and Sam Simmonds, France-bound at the end of the season, continued their mission for a glorious farewell as they kept their ambition of repeating Exeter’s 2020 Champions Cup triumph firmly on track.
But they had more than a little help from some newly-promoted Chiefs as Rob Baxter saw his salary cap-enforced squad re-building project show huge promise.
Full-back Tom Wyatt, who has spent most of the last three seasons on dual contract with Championship side Cornish Pirates, was preferred to Scotland cap centurion Stuart Hogg after his crucial try in the extra-time victory over Montpellier which secured yesterday’s home quarter-final . . . and he struck again with yesterday’s opener.
And the scrum-half pair of Will Becconsall and his replacement Tom Cairns, catapulted from this season’s Premiership Cup-winning side to the top level of European rugby in the space of a fortnight, brought an attacking urgency to the Chiefs.
Director of rugby Baxter rated yesterday’s performance alongside the best of his double-winning team of three years ago, stating: “For me personally I would put it near the top.”
But the star names going out on a high is not the motivation Baxter is looking for to inspire his side.
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