Exeter Chiefs’ remarkable revival has made them into genuine title challengers

Exeter Chiefs will go into 2026 having completed a remarkable turnaround from last season’s nightmare ninth-place finish.

The Devonians’ confidence was drained with an identity that was blurred. For a side that once set the benchmark for English rugby excellence with a Champions Cup and Prem double in 2020, last term felt jarring — a proud organisation searching for belief, direction and, above all, a win.

But in 2025/26, the conversation could not be more different.

Winning away at Saracens last weekend was not just another away result; it was the litmus test. Plenty of very good teams have gone to the StoneX and come away second best. Exeter themselves once treated it as a development exercise — most notably when Rob Baxter rested the bulk of his first-choice players after clinching a play-off spot, only to lose heavily. This time there was no such compromise. This was a full-blooded statement.

Comeback kings

And it came in the most Exeter way possible, trailing 24-13 with 20 minutes tom go, but scoring three tries in the final quarter to win 30-24 at their big rivals.

It was a second impressive comeback in as many Prem away games after overcoming a 20-point second half deficit to win 27-26 at Sale Sharks last month.

Boss Rob Baxter spoke of a group with “fantastic spirit” and a team that “never goes away”, praising Saracens as one of the hardest opponents in the league to break down. The respect was genuine, but so was the message: Exeter now expect to compete in these environments, not merely survive them.

What stands out most is how calm they look under pressure. Last season, close games slipped away. Leads evaporated. Heads dropped. This year, the opposite is true. When Exeter fall behind, there is no panic — just a quiet certainty that another chance will come. And when it does, they take it.

Super Slade

Henry Slade is the league’s top points scorer with 97 - 36 clear of second-place, and has been the instigator of Exeter’s remarkable rise, with his England experience supplemented with a conveyer belt of talent from the club’s academy and Exeter University. Summer signings Len Ikitau and Tom Hooper have provided added topflight nous, while have helped fill the void left by the departures of stalwarts like Luke Cowan-Dickie and Jack Nowell.

Historic triumph

The Saracens win also carries symbolic weight. It was only Exeter’s third-ever victory at the StoneX, underlining just how rare nights like this are. To achieve it during a festive run that includes multiple top-end Premiership tests speaks volumes about where they now see themselves.

Are Exeter title favourites? Not yet. But they are unquestionably contenders — and that alone represents a remarkable turnaround from the bleak days of last winter. The ghosts of Christmas past have been firmly banished. Belief has returned to Sandy Park. And once again, Exeter are not chasing the Prem pack — they are hunting it.

In a league defined by fine margins and unforgiving standards, that might be the most impressive comeback of all.