Exeter Chief Executive Tony Rowe Maintains Belief in Premiership Top-Four Qualification

Exeter’s chief executive, Tony Rowe, who oversees the club’s off-field operations while Rob Baxter leads the playing side, has expressed his conviction that the men’s team can still achieve a top-four position in the Premiership, despite their challenging beginning to the season. The Chiefs have experienced a club-record six consecutive defeats in top-flight matches, placing them second-from-bottom in the Premiership standings. However, they have achieved two significant victories against Championship teams Cornish Pirates and Hartpury in the Premiership Rugby Cup, a competition Rowe aims to win. Speaking to BBC Radio Devon, Rowe stated, “I think we should have a good cup run.” He further added, “Premiership, I’d like to think we can get back to top four, and [in] Europe if we can get ourselves to the quarter-finals I think we’ve done well.” Rowe emphasized, “There’s still an ambition to achieve this year. It’s early days, the European games have not even started and we’re not halfway through the Premiership games yet and we will improve.” Exeter saw numerous experienced players depart in the summer of 2023, following the Premiership’s salary cap reduction from £6.4 million to £5 million, a measure implemented after the Covid-19 pandemic. The club has since decreased its budget, with director of rugby Rob Baxter commenting last month that the club was “miles off the salary cap.” According to Rowe, Exeter incurred a loss of £17.5 million when matches had to be played without spectators. Additionally, the subsequent increase in the cost of living has led to higher operational costs for the club and prompted some supporters to forgo attending games, as they allocate their spending to other priorities. Rowe explained, “Going into Covid, the club was financially very sound – we had surplus in the bank and we could afford to spend up to the salary cap.” He added, “I’ve had to haul Rob (Baxter, director of rugby) back a little bit over the last couple of years.” However, he clarified, “But that’s not to say that I believe we’ve got a substandard side because what we’ve done is we’ve recruited quite well through our academy, and part of our academy is Exeter University, and we’ve got quite an influx of of good, talented young men in there.” He further stated, “It is what it is, if we can’t afford them we can’t afford to go out there in the marketplace.” Rowe elaborated, “Top-quality guys actually cost a lot of money, and part of the reason why we had to release a few of our players was because we couldn’t afford them, they just didn’t fit in our salary cap.”