Baxter's "crazy" decade

Friday, 3 January 2020 07:00

By Sam Sterrett

VIDEO: Chief's coach reflects on 10 years in Premiership

It's been a monumental decade for Exeter Chiefs. Ten years ago, Devon's finest were playing in the Championship. Fast forward ten years and they sit top of their pool in the European Champions Cup - and top of the Premiership.

If someone said that to Exeter's director of rugby Rob Baxter ten years ago, he says he would have laughed and called them "crazy". But now the Chiefs are one of the most feared clubs in European rugby.

Baxter took up the director of rugby role in 2009 and he hasn't looked back. The former Chiefs' captain guided Exeter to Premiership glory in 2017 - after winning two Anglo Welsh Cups. However, despite being crowed champions of England for the first time, the best memory that comes to mind in the previous decade is the 2010 Championship final.

"Winning the Championship was an absolutely amazing feeling - it's a huge, huge memory for me," he says. "Beating Wasps in the Premiership Final tops it off. There was a time when Exeter Chiefs were number one in the country. If someone said that to me when I was playing at the County Ground, I would have thought they were crazy. The journey has been fantastic."

Baxter recently signed a new three-year deal with the club keeping him at Sandy Park until 2023. He wouldn't want to spend the next three years anywhere else.

"Our age range is still really good - that keeps refreshing because we keep finding academy players," Baxter added. "Most of our players are still learning and developing - we have a number of low 20 year-olds who will come through in the next few years.

"I'm very lucky here. I've got a very ambitious, hard working, forward thinking, young coaching group. All of them have a great work ethic and they're very ambitious - making it a really positive place to work."

Baxter's "crazy" decade

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