EXETER captain Jack Yeandle reckons a rapidly increasing level of international recognition offers compelling proof of why the Sandy Park outfit is ready to smash down the old order and bring Champions Cup glory to Devon.
A Rugby Paper survey reveals Exeter have superseded Leicester and Northampton when it comes to Lions and senior England call-ups and now stand on a par with other traditional Premiership giants Bath, Wasps and Gloucester.
Premiership final tryscoring hero Jack Nowell is with the Lions in New Zealand, while five Chiefs are in Argentina with England and two more are helping England U20s defend their Junior World Cup crown.
Yeandle told TRP: “A few years ago we spoke about how, if we could achieve things collectively, individuals would get recognised by England or, in Jack’s case, the Lions
“But we can’t just be happy with that. Big teams want to achieve bigger things, so why can’t we win the Champions Cup?
“We’ve shown with our form in the Premiership that we can match Saracens, Wasps, Leicester and the rest, so we’ve got to take that into Europe. We don’t want to just plateau while everyone else gets better.
“We let ourselves down in Europe this season but were one kick from the Champions Cup semi-finals the year before, so we feel there’s still room for growth.”
Yeandle, left, was one of 13 Exeter players in last week’s 23-man Premiership final squad to have played Championship rugby before helping Chiefs complete their seven-year rise from promotion winners to English champions.
Eight featured for neighbouring Cornish Pirates or Plymouth, with Yeandle adding: “It shows how important the Championship is and my year at Doncaster allowed me to establish myself.
“Yes, we’ve brought in some players of international stature but a lot of our guys came through really tough academy or Championship route.”
EXETER’S PREMIERSHIP FINALISTS FROM TIER 2
Forwards: Ben Moon (Promoted with Exeter), Luke Cowan-Dickie (Plymouth), Harry Williams (Jersey), Jack Yeandle (Doncaster/Cornish Pirates), Carl Rimmer (Coventry/Cornish Pirates), Tomas Francis (Doncaster/London Scottish), Mitch Lees (London Welsh), Sam Simmonds (Cornish Pirates)
Backs: Stu Townsend (Cornish Pirates), Gareth Steenson (Rotherham/Cornish Pirates), Jack Nowell (Cornish Pirates), Will Chudley (Bedford), Henry Slade (Plymouth)
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