Occasionally it is worth reflecting on what success in sport really looks like. Is it measured by silverware alone or by a much wider set of parameters – the long-term flowering of a club, say, or the depth of regional pride? The biggest compliment you can pay Rob Baxter, the Premiership’s longest-serving one-club director of rugby, is that once-unfashionable Exeter is now the last place where opponents want to kick off a brand new season.
In a decade and a half under Baxter’s stewardship, among other things, the Chiefs have yet to lose a round one game at Sandy Park, magnifying the challenge facing Leicester in the opening game of the Michael Cheika era. Their intense pre-season fitness work at the Royal Marines commando training centre at Lympstone and the intricate tactical planning of Baxter and his fellow coaches mean the Devonians remain a force at their hilltop lair above junction 30 of the M5.
While it does not always result in trophies in June – an increasingly youthful Chiefs side have not been domestic champions since 2020 and know they need to improve their mediocre away form – everything is relative. Fifteen years ago Cheika was steering Leinster to the Pro12 title while Exeter were playing in the Championship against Moseley, Birmingham-Solihull and Rotherham. Baxter’s remarkable achievement in propelling his local side into the Premiership in his first season in permanent charge in 2009-10 still rates highly among British sport’s greatest awakenings.
So what advice, after all these years embedded deep in the English club game, would the seasoned Chief give the newly arrived Cheika? Baxter has plenty of wisdom to dispense, though he dislikes being perceived as some kind of grey-bearded elder. “I’m only 53. There are a lot of DORs and coaches out there who are a damn sight older than I am. I don’t see them being asked every five minutes if they’re still energetic and enthusiastic about the game. If I’d moved jobs three times in those 15 years, I probably wouldn’t get asked that. I’m a decent way from retirement and I still think there’s an awful lot to achieve here.”
Point taken. That said, experience clearly assists the priceless alchemy of team-building. Exeter, having jettisoned several senior players to lower their wage bill, are still rebuilding but the club’s ability to unearth new seedlings – Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, Greg Fisilau, Ross Vintcent – to replace familiar old oaks Jack Nowell, Dave Ewers and Sam Simmonds – remains unrivalled. Baxter freely admits to thinking like a farmer and, in addition to working long hours, is continually planning at least a couple of years ahead. “When I first joined he was forwards coach, defence coach … he did everything,” confirms Jack Yeandle, the Chiefs’ longtime club captain. “But the biggest thing about Rob is the small details. The alignment of everything … making sure everything is working in the same direction.”
Even now, approaching half a century since he attended his first Exeter game at the old County Ground, nothing much happens by accident. Baxter even still “codes” the footage of every game himself, spending four or five hours on a Sunday poring over his computer to ensure he knows precisely how every squad member is tracking. On days off – or what passes for them – he will head off to scout university or academy games, which he reckons might give him a slight edge over overseas coaches with shorter-term imperatives and less intimate knowledge of the terrain. “I think longevity – more than whether you’re English or not – gives you a little bit of an advantage. You’ve seen a lot, you’ve seen a team grow, emerge and change. That gives you a bit of confidence you can build something over a period.”
While Exeter have not latterly been in a position to replicate the fabled European and domestic double they achieved four years ago – they have been seventh in the league in each of the past three years – Baxter’s modus operandi has not greatly changed. This summer he has deliberately spent pre-season digging out film footage of unfancied young teams who unexpectedly shot to glory, still convinced the key to everything lies in creating the right mindset.
“The simpler you keep it the more it makes it easier for people. I never get tired of saying to the lads, ‘I want to watch you and feel like it means something.’ That’s ultimately what sport’s about. What gets a crowd really going? When you’re watching your team and you can tell they’re united and emotionally right … that’s an incredible feeling. I don’t think you need to look too far ahead of that.”
It has not always been smooth sailing. Covid seriously undermined the Chiefs’ finances and even Baxter was concerned everything could come crashing down. It is why he still believes the Rugby Football Union could have done more to ease the clubs’ pain and is not leaping with joy at the terms of the recently signed Professional Game Partnership. “The truth is the Premiership and England both need each other to be successful for all kinds of reasons. We want people to look at rugby and say it’s vibrant.
“[So] I am a little frustrated that there is a small increase in RFU funding for the Premiership and yet they want a lot for it. Considering we are the teams who produce the England players and cover 90% of the cost of them, we didn’t receive any help from the RFU when we really needed it.” He is also unimpressed by the prospect of Feyi-Waboso, say, potentially being withheld from a big Exeter game this winter against his wishes. “I am concerned about the control issue and what issues that may lead to. Everyone is being a bit naive if people are saying sensible conversations will deal with everything. I don’t think they will. You use every weapon at your disposal, don’t you?”
Over time, however, his core ambition is for Exeter to rise again, with bigger-name signings in the pipeline once the chairman Tony Rowe is content the club is back on a positive financial footing. “I know he wants to rebuild our squad to a level where we can afford to be right at the top of the salary cap. If we can bring through another group of young players to win the Premiership again I would be over the moon. People ask which of our titles meant the most and the answer is the next one.”
“Don’t get me wrong, our first Premiership win – and winning the Champions Cup – was incredible. But the whole thing would just feel bigger doing it again. It would be incredibly satisfying. Ultimately you’re doing anything you can to keep moving forward. The speed of moving forward doesn’t matter too much but it keeps everyone feeling you’ll get somewhere eventually. We’ve got some big steps to take but you feel there’s something around the corner and we can grow again. I don’t mind saying that’s hugely motivational.”
