Exeter Chiefs look to painful lessons of the past to crown their fairy tale journey with Champions Cup glory

Story that starts 14 years ago with the birth of Sandy Park could reach it’s peak today as the Devonian side look to become champions of Europe for the first time in their history

Exeter Chiefs take on Racing 92 in the Heineken Champions Cup final (PA)

To begin the modern-day Exeter Chiefs story, you have to go back to 2006.

The County Ground, the club’s now defunct former home that staged greyhound and speedway racing around the perimeter of the rugby union pitch, was no longer fit for purpose. The club had decided that if it was going to achieve its lofty aspirations of breaking into the Premiership it needed a more professional home, complete with hospitality provisions fit enough for the top tier.

And so Sandy Park was born, and in the ensuing four years the structural changes were put in place that produced the success we see today. Rob Baxter, the former Exeter captain, was installed as head coach following the shake-up that saw Pete Drewett depart and a core developed that new the Chiefs inside and out. Baxter brought in Ali Hepher as his right-hand lieutenant, and together the pair plotted Exeter’s rise from Championship bridesmaids - following four second-place finishes in five years - to English champions, an achievement that was fulfilled in 2016/17 in the nail-biting extra-time victory over Wasps.

Exeter once again have the Premiership in their sights, but next weekend’s final against the same opponents will have to wait as this weekend, Baxter, Hepher and the Chiefs go after Europe.

It will be no easy task against a Racing 92 side that has sent out consecutive statements in beating Clermont Auvergne in a Franco-points-athon in the quarter-finals before ending Saracens’ reign as European champions last month. Racing are not quite the star-studded squad that they were when they came within a whisker of winning the Champions Cup two seasons’ ago, but they still have a sprinkling of international talent to compliment their large rank of homegrown players - Finn Russell, Simon Zebo, Juan Imhoff and Donnacha Ryan need no introduction.

But while their story is steeped in a financial spend to become a European heavyweight, it is the polar opposite of Exeter’s story. It is not quite David vs Goliath, for that would be hugely disrespectful to the Premiership side’s current squad, but when it comes to cash - and cash is king - it’s far from a level playing field.

Rather than using the bank to propel them to European glory, Exeter hope it will be the emotion that wins out on the day to give something for their fans to look forward to returning to.

"It feels a fantastic journey and it has been great, but the important things are what we do every day, every week and every month," Baxter said after naming his side for the final, with the only two changes from last week’s Premiership semi-final-winning side coming in the back line as Ian Whitten and Jack Nowell return.

"That's what we have got right as a club and there is a huge group of people who have had a massive involvement in everything.

"Hopefully, if we can fast-forward six months and we have got full stadiums and you can walk through the lobby at Sandy Park and the Heineken Cup is there in the cabinet, it elevates everything else you can do moving forward.”

One thing that Exeter have learnt the hard way is what it takes to be a champion. Three of the last four Premiership finals have ended in heartbreak at the hands of Saracens, the side who it has since been revealed achieved such greatness while breaching the league’s salary cap restrictions. Saracens’s relegation as punishment has left the door open for Exeter to take up the mantle, but they will remember all too well how it felt to suffer defeat on the biggest stage.

In 2015/16, Exeter felt like they were onto something, though slipped to a 28-20 defeat, yet it gave them hope that after winning the final in 2017, they finally had it sussed to knock off Saracens the following year. The saying goes you have to lose one to win one, but Exeter failed to show up at Twickenham, meterphocially speaking, in a desperate 27-10 loss that rather flattered the Devonian side.

However, it was last year’s final that hurt the most, when arguably the greatest Premiership final fell in Saracens’ favour as they clinched a 37-34 victory. There have been lessons taken from all three of those finals, more so than the one they won in the middle, for what lies ahead.

"One of the biggest lessons I've learnt as we have gone along is that we don't want to sit here and talk about 'isn't it great that we have got to the final of the Champions Cup and we can go there and give it a go, and whatever happens it will be a brilliant season'. We have moved way beyond that,” Baxter added.

"We are not running around with big smiles on our faces being silly because we have got to a European final for the first time. We are actually locking down into what it will take to win it.

"Obviously, we have had to win a lot of big games to get here, and I still harp back to us actually winning promotion to the Premiership (in 2010) as one of the key, fundamental steps, and it always will be.

"In a weird way, that was the thing that took us the longest to do - it certainly took us the most games - so there have been plenty along the way, and every time you get to one of these landmark games, for obvious reasons, it becomes the biggest game, doesn't it?"

On Saturday, it could be the familiar feeling of failure for Exeter, or it could be the biggest moment in the club’s history, regardless of it Baxter is playing down the sense of the occasion.

Teams

Exeter Chiefs: Stuart Hogg; Jack Nowell, Henry Slade, Ian Whitten, Tom O’Flaherty; Joe Simmonds, Jack Maunder; Alec Hepburn, Luke Cowan-Dickie, Harry Williams; Jonny Gray, Jonny Hill; Dave Ewers, Jacques Vermeulen, Sam Simmonds.

Replacements: Jack Yeabdle, Ben Moon, Tomas Francis, Sam Skinner, Jannes Kirsten, Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, Gareth Steenson, Ollie Devoto.

Racing 92: Simon Zebo; Louis Dupichot, Virimi Vakatawa, Henry Chavancy, Juan Imhoff; Finn Russell Teddy Iribaren; Eddy Ben Arous, Camille Chat, Georges Henri Colombe; Bernard Le Roux, Dominic Bird; Wenceslas Lauret, Fabien Sanconnie, Antonie Claassen.

Replacements: Teddy Baubigny, Hassane Kolingar, Ali Oz, Donnacha Ryan, Voris Palu, Maxime Machenaud, Olivier Klemenczak, Kurtley Beale.