Jack Nowell has joined Rob Baxter’s call for rugby to do a better job of building rivalries and storylines to appeal to new fans.
Exeter take on arch-rivals and unbeaten co-Premiership leaders Saracens today in a fixture which will attract easily the biggest crowd to date of Chiefs’ season.
“There is a bit of history there with finals and salary cap stuff,” said Baxter. “That just makes it exciting and that is what you want. You want games with a bit of edge, with a bit of history and something to them.
“Games like this you really want to promote and make sure they become really big spectacles that people want to watch.”
When Saracens were found guilty in 2019 of breaking the salary cap in two seasons in which they pipped Exeter to the title, Chiefs were furious.
Baxter hit out at their ‘cheating’ and in their first meeting afterwards a fired-up Exeter won a thunderous contest despite having a player sent-off.
The dust has settled but the rivalry is now firmly established, which is why 12,000 have snapped up tickets for the 2022 rematch.
Nowell, for one, can’t wait for the meeting of clubs who have been champions in six of the last eight seasons.
And he said: “I agree with Rob that rugby does need to start promoting itself better in order to grow. Building or highlighting rivalries is only going to make more people interested.
“Personally I’m good friends with a lot of the Sarries boys, but when we take the field its two top teams trying to beat the c**p out of each other for 80 minutes.
“There’s no harm in that or in talking about it,” added Nowell, whose wife Zoe is expecting their third child and first son. “In fact that rivalry is only going to make more people interested.”
There are obvious examples elsewhere in Leicester and Northampton, Harlequins and Saracens - and any combination of Bath, Bristol and Gloucester.
But losing Wasps and Worcester has robbed the league of other match-ups and highlighted the need for all involved in the Premiership to make a better job of selling its wares.
“We want to make the league a big spectacle,” added Baxter. “We want to get more people through the gate and TV companies to invest in it. We’ve got to do something to make that happen.
“But there’s a difference between talking up games and it being a rivalry that goes beyond what it should.”
Which is one reason Chiefs’ director of rugby is firmly against the idea of segregating away fans as happens in football.
“I would hate it to go that way,” he said. “I think it would be a bit anti-rugby to start separating people.
“I like it as it is and I know our supporters love getting in with other guys and having a chat and a bit of banter. We need to encourage - not discourage that - I would say."
England captain Courtney Lawes is out of Eddie Jones’ autumn training camp in Jersey.
Lawes has been sidelined since suffering concussion playing for Northampton last month.
England “hope” he will be available for the first of four Twickenham Tests, on successive weekends, against Argentina a fortnight tomorrow (Nov 6) and in his absence Jones has called up London Irish’s Tom Pearson.
Meanwhile, former England captain Chris Robshaw has retired at the age of 36 after three shoulder dislocations in quick succession playing for San Diego.
“My body has told me to blow the final whistle,” said Robshaw, who won 66 caps, 43 as captain, during an 18-year pro career.
