welcome

Good afternoon to you all and welcome back to Sandy Park for our Heineken Champions Cup Round of 16 clash with Montpellier.

There is, I guess, only one place to start and that is last weekend’s Gallagher Premiership loss away to Bath. No one associated with the club needs telling that the performance we displayed seven days ago was nothing short of ‘unacceptable’.

Over the years we have prided ourselves, both on and off the field, as a club who give everything to the cause and, sadly, that could not be said of last weekend at The Rec.

It was the proverbial ‘bad day at the office’ and I know Rob, the coaches and the players themselves have had some pretty honest and frank discussions amongst themselves in the wake of last weekend.

That said, the good thing about sport is that often you don’t have to wait too long to put matters right and today’s fixture offers us a great opportunity to right the wrongs of the Bath performance.

With a place in the quarter-finals up for grabs for today’s winners, there is really no greater incentive for the team and us as a club to fire ourselves up for what should be a formidable European challenge against one of the top teams in France.

Montpellier are certainly no strangers to us, having met numerous times in Europe in recent years, so we are acutely aware of their rugby pedigree and the threat they will pose come kick-off.

As supporters, you can also play your part in helping our cause, so let’s get behind the team from minute one and help roar us into the last eight.

On another note, I wanted to congratulate the many members of our women’s side who were in international action last weekend. To see so many representing their countries - and the Chiefs for that matter - on the big stage is fantastic and due reward for what has been an outstanding season so far.

What particularly pleased me was the five inclusions we had in the England Under-20s squad that tackled Scotland up at Newcastle’s Kingston Park. As we have talked about many times, these players are the future of the Chiefs Women’s set-up, so to have that homegrown talent coming through the ranks like they are is hugely encouraging moving forward.

Finally, you will also have seen that we have announced a number of music concerts here at Sandy Park. Having another viable revenue stream, particularly in the off-season, is essential, so I hope as many of you as possible will come along and enjoy the concerts we have created.

TONY ROWE CBE

CHAIRMAN & CHIEF EXECUTIVE EXETER RUGBY CLUB