Driving to this theatre, I passed signs to Sidmouth and Tiverton, more known for West Country charm than sporting supremacy. They are namechecked early in a play about the region’s recent rugby union history to make the point that, in the early 80s, Exeter used to lose to neighbourhood clubs considered minnows.
Exe Men is adapted by Ashley Pharoah from Guardian rugby writer Robert Kitson’s 2020 book. It shows how an ambitious investor, Tony Rowe, and enterprising coach, Rob Baxter, renamed the club the Exeter Chiefs and made them the best in England and then Europe. The Chiefs were the Seabiscuit of jock-straps and scrum caps, the Leicester City of rugby.
