EXETER Chiefs' young talent have had to bide their time but are now the focus of Rob Baxter's side and former full-back Stuart Hogg says the pressure's on with a ‘sink or swim' mentality.
Hogg, 31, who is now a TNT Sports pundit, was among a host of names that departed Sandy Park last summer with fellow British and Irish Lions Jack Nowell, Luke Cowan-Dickie and Sam Simmonds moving on.
The mass exodus has led to the average age of the squad dropping from around 30 to 23 and while there's still experience from the likes of England centre Henry Slade, and winger Olly Woodburn, the injection of youth from the club's academy and partnership with Exeter University has resulted in a new lease of life into Baxter's squad.
Hogg, Scotland's record try scorer with 27, told The Rugby Paper: “They've got an incredible amount of talent coming through. The academy has been in a good place the last few years and with the link with Exeter Uni there's players that have played in BUCS Super Rugby and also for the Chiefs. They've had to bide their time a bit, working hard with the old heads ahead of them.
“It's sink or swim and these guys seem to be swimming well so far.”
Exeter got off to a briliant start in the Premiership securing back-toback home wins, scoring 17 tries against champions Saracens and last year's runners-up Sale.
However, their form on the road hasn't been as strong with defeats at Harlequins and Northampton meaning they are yet to taste victory away from home this season.
Hogg made 71 appearances and scored 19 tries for the Chiefs between 2019-2023 and after enduring the setback of missing out on the top four in his final two seasons, he says it's important that they find a way to return to the play-offs in this campaign.
“It was bitterly disappointing to not be at the business end of the sea-son and that comes down to not picking up enough points on the road,” said Hogg. “Their home form has been very good so far but they need points on the road too if they are to break into the top four.”
Exeter host Gloucester today with this round's Premiership games advertised as ‘Derby Weekend'. Hogg believes it's a great marketing strategy and recalls his experiences of the league's fiery encounters, including his own battles with Gloucester.
He said: “At Sandy Park you've got two sides that are gunning for it after two hefty defeats. The Premiership has done a great job in bringing this derby weekend together, every now and then when you tune into a big derby match you see how much excitement builds around it so to have a whole weekend of it is amazing.
“Growing up I used to loved watching Leicester-Northampton with the calibre of players that were involved. We had the Manu Tuilagi-Chris Ashton fight, Richard Cockerill squaring up to everybody, we've had many a brawl, many a try. It's a great fixture but each one has its own bit of history to go with it.
“I used to love playing against Gloucester, especially at Kingsholm. I remember getting a bit of stick after dropping the ball over the line for Scotland and the week after at Gloucester, the fans behind the posts were giving it to me. I ended up scoring one of my favourite tries of my career, right in front of where they were. I had the ball in two hands and dotted it down a couple times just to make sure and they saw the funny side. I loved the hostile crowd.”
Watch Exeter Chiefs v Gloucester exclusively live on TNT Sports 1 and discovery+ from 2:30pm today. For more info visit: tntsports.co.uk/rugby
