There are a mere 320 miles of road separating Exeter from Newcastle, the geographical poles of top-flight rugby in England, and it’s just about possible to get up and down in a day if the motorways behave themselves and you’ve crowdfunded your way to a third tank of petrol.

Sadly, the distance between the union game in the south-west and the stuff they’ve been playing in the north-east over the last decade makes the trip from Andromeda to Ursa Minor look like a hop to the shops.
Exeter have won two Premierships and a Champions Cup title since 2015-16, establishing deep and meaningful relati...