Exeter scrum-half Sam Maunder admits the departure of their England stars at the end of the season will be a big loss to the Chiefs.
Moves to Montpellier in France have already been announced for Luke Cowan-Dickie and Sam Simmonds and the chances are that Jack Nowell will be joining them across the English Channel.
With Jonny Hill signing for Sale the season before, Chiefs will be four England stars lighter than when they won the Premiership and Champions Cup double in 2020.
“I probably haven't thought about what it is going to look like next year because we are in the moment, the games are coming thick and fast, but obviously it is really sad news for me personally losing those guys because they are such massive influences on the club,” said the former England U20 international.
“Look at Dicky and the way he carries himself around the pitch, he is always smashing people, and when Simmo is carrying, he is a massive threat for us. I think, for them, there are probably a lot of positive for their families with new experiences and stuff. But it is sad for the boys that we are going to be missing out on playing with them next year.”
While disappointed to see that cohort go, Maunder is confident the next generation of talent is coming through to replace the old guard.“We've got some really exciting youngsters – the likes of Christ (Tshiunza) and Dafydd (Jenkins) have been playing awesomely this season, massively stepping up. Greg (Fisilau) played No.8 at the weekend and was whacking boys and carrying without fear, and we've got people like Richard Capstick and Hodgey (Olly Hodge) at the back so I think we've got some good young talent coming through, and most of them under 23.
“The hope is that through playing with the older boys we can gain some experience and gain some game time too, and hopefully, in the future, we can start winning games and kicking on, especially when the internationals are away.
“A lot of responsibility is going to be on the young guys to make sure we drive the team forward as much as though guys were, and still are.”
At 22 years of age and just under 50 Chiefs appearances to his name, Maunder is not exactly in the full flush of youth, but there are still plenty of new experiences for him to saviour.
Potentially, he will play his first game of rugby in South Africa this Saturday, although the return to fitness of his older brother and fellow scrum-half Jack from a knee injury makes selection for the trip to the Bulls more difficult.
Maunder's only other previous sporting experience in South Africa was on a cricket tour in his teenage years.
“It was back when I was playing (age grade) country cricket, for Devon. It was awesome. We played at Newlands Stadium. I couldn't hit the ball off the square but I took a good catch which I was pleased about,” the home-grown Chiefs player recalled. “I love my cricket and I'm the self-proclaimed captain of the Exeter Chiefs cricket team, we play against a few pub teams.
“Back in the day I used to be a keeper/batsman but now I offer the chat, bowl a bit of rank off spin and have a bat when I can.”
With the Bulls currently on a 13-match winning home run in all competitions, the gloves will have to be off if Maunder and Exeter are to prevail at the iconic Loftus Versfeld this Saturday.
Europe, though, has brought the best out of the Chiefs this season. Despite an indifferent first half of the season in the Premiership, they have won both of their opening games in the Champions Cup and are second to Leinster in Pool A on points difference. “Europe has gone really well for us, it's been a massive positive,” he said. “When we ended up playing our first game in Europe (a 27-12 win away to Castres), we had a big influx of our international players back playing for us so that obviously helps. They brought back quite a lot of energy and excitement.
“I think this competition is quite meaningful for a lot of players with us having won it quite recently, so from that aspect of it, it is pretty big in everyone's minds. That did drive us forward massively in that Castres game and it felt like we were in a really place when it came to the Bulls game and we got a good result against them as well (a 44-14 home win).
“I didn't play that season we won the Champions Cup but the feeling around the club when we won it was pretty special. It was Covid so we weren't able to be there to support the lads but when they came back it was awesome to see what they had achieved. We were talking about it for ages even though we weren't involved.
“To be honest, I think everyone is quite excited to play in nice weather after the wind and the rain here in the UK.”
