No longer will the 139 year old pride of the far west be considered a partial contributor to the English rugby scene, when for the first time since 1871 Exeter will grandly begin a campaign that many felt they have been working towards for at least seven years.

Their 29-10 victory over the RFU Championships top ranked team Bristol – a superior team over the 22 game season only by virtue of bonus points and their competition leading defence - was fashioned by hard work and studious play that showed that the Chiefs will no doubt be screaming their famous war cry many times throughout the Aviva Premiership season.

Never before has Devon had a sporting colossus to be proud of.  

Exeter City has never been a football power, their league team the Centurions have struggled in the past, and their other rugby sides the Exeter Saracens and Wessex have been small fish in what is a crowded ocean of rugby sides spread throughout England.

But now Exeter has their sporting fairytale, and if their approach to the promotion playoff is anything to go on, then they will be a formidable team.

And their convalescing form has been building for some time.

Four times since 2002 they have reached the EDF Energy Trophy final, and in coach Rob Baxter they have a teacher who will ensure they punch above their weight in England’s top flight.

Their first leg performance against Bristol, a 9-6 grind over their neighbours in the South West, was lamented as unimaginative and being without any real polish.

Yet it was a result that showed that Exeter and Baxter are canny beasts determined to succeed no matter how hard they have to work.

Rumour has it that Baxter positioned multiple cameras at their headquarters at Sandy Park, and conducted a thorough intelligence brief on their opponent’s strengths and weaknesses coming into the second leg at the Memorial Ground.

And it was a completely different Chiefs team that came out against a Bristol team that numerous times looked shocked at the varied tools in Exeter’s arsenal.

Baxter summed up the plan in his post match speech.

“If I am proud of anything it is that we held our nerve and vindicated they way we played in the first leg. We never felt the first leg was about building a lead, we thought it was all about setting up the second leg. We took the criticism on the chin but we achieved what we set out to,” the impressive coach said.

“"That gave the guys a lot of confidence. Tonight we took out kicks at goal, and we also had a dropped goal strategy, the first time we have adopted that this season.”

That last sentence very much summed up the Chiefs approach to the second leg and defines why they will be a force despite this being their first season in the heavyweight division.

Never throughout the season had Exeter employed a drop strategy, yet their brains trust had clearly worked out that Bristol were not inclined to rush players into the oppositions pocket.

In Gareth Steenson they have a workman fly-half, and they have kept all of the players involved in their final matches signed for their maiden Premiership season.  

It is simple as far as the Chiefs were concerned.

Sacrifice it all to earn the right to play rugby in the top flight, and we will reward you by giving you a chance to test yourself against the cream of English rugby.

The Chiefs will not bring a whole heap of razzle dazzle to the Premiership, but they will bring a solidarity and consistency that bodes well for their fortunes this season.

They have already buttressed their roster, recently bringing in Munster Academy and Shannon flanker Eoghan Grace.

It will be a massive year for Exeter, playing Gloucester to kick off their Premiership campaign, and they will also taste European rugby for the first time, becoming the 89th team to compete in the Challenge Cup.  There they will play the Newcastle Falcons and French duo Bourgoin and Montpellier in Pool 3.
They will be a solid side this season, and heavensgame predicts that while they may not reach the playoffs, they will impress enough to finish eighth or ninth in 2010-11.

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