On the field there are reasons to be optimistic for Exeter, back up to third in the Premiership table after a thrilling last-gasp victory sealed by a long-range penalty by Henry Slade. Off the pitch, though, not all is sweetness and light with the Chiefs confirming their squad were paid late last month and annual losses of around £4m for the previous tax year expected to be announced within the next 10 days.
Exeter officials remain adamant that a slight delay in paying their players’ wages was a “simple clerical error” and strenuously refute the idea the club are in danger of going out of business. The Guardian has been told that a staff member processing the wages unwittingly tried to pay them via the wrong bank account, leading to the players being paid 10 hours late on 31 October.
A senior Exeter source insisted the club are “nowhere near going bust”, but season ticket sales are 10% down and matchday ticket sales are also more than 20% lower than last year. There continue to be significant financial pressures across the Premiership with the cost of living crisis, the need to repay hefty Covid loans and the collapse of Worcester, Wasps, London Irish and Jersey Reds in the past 14 months all combining to complicate the equation.
Locally there has been disquiet at the price of tickets, with the cost of season tickets failing to reflect there are now fewer Premiership fixtures and many established stars having departed. With a women’s team to pay for as well as the men’s squad, it is understood fresh investment is being sought in order to allow the Chiefs to prosper in the longer term.
Given that Exeter were crowned champions of Europe just three years ago, it is the latest reminder of the challenges facing rugby across the board. The late drama that yielded the Chiefs’ fourth win in six games, however, also delivered proof of the excitement that club rugby can offer, with Gloucester overtaken at the death having led 24-15 with nine minutes remaining.
On a gusty west country afternoon, Exeter should have already had the game sewn up after first-half tries from Rus Tuima and their young Welsh international captain Dafydd Jenkins gave them the platform from which to turn the screw further with an advantageous wind. Instead the Cherry & Whites belatedly burst into life, with Louis Rees-Zammit and Seb Atkinson scoring in the same right corner within five minutes of each other to earn their side a bonus point.
Rees-Zammit swivelled cleverly away from the cover 15 metres out, found a yard of space and stepped smartly off his right foot to complete a fine finish. George Barton curled over his conversion and, after a deflected charge down fell nicely for the visitors, Atkinson dummied his way over for his side’s fourth try.
Exeter, though, have not lost at home since October 2022 and were never going to lie down. Aside from 10 minutes spent in the sin-bin for an upright tackle, Tuima was a prominent force throughout with Jenkins not far behind. Exeter also owed much to their other Welsh international Joe Hawkins, whose straight-running in midfield consistently caught the eye, as well as Slade, enjoying a fine season since his omission from England’s World Cup squad.
Here, after the returning Stu Townsend had dived up and over a ruck to give the Chiefs a late lifeline, the left-footed centre held his nerve from 45m on the angle to punish a late Gloucester ruck offence, with the replacement prop Harry Elrington pinged for not rolling away quickly enough.
Gloucester’s director of rugby, George Skivington, reckoned it was a 50-50 call that could be debated “until the cows come home”, leaving his opposite number Rob Baxter to address speculation about the club’s financial position.
“If people are making a big issue out of it in a false way and it costs us financially, the club are looking into what the legal position is,” Baxter said. “Ultimately everyone’s been paid on the right day of the month. There’s no story other than three other Premiership clubs have gone bankrupt recently. We’ve got some financial challenges but we want to run at a profit. We’ll have to cut our cloth accordingly and that’s what we’ll do.”
