London (AFP)

Ten years ago, Exeter discovered the elite of English rugby.

On Saturday, the Chiefs will host Toulouse for their first European semi-final, one more step on the patient but inexorable rise of a model club.

At a time when the Saracens are preparing to bow out, at least temporarily, as the dominant team in England and Europe, caught up by their repeated violations of the salary cap, Exeter is all ready to fill the vacant place.

Finalist in the last four seasons and assured of finishing first in the regular season for the third year in a row, the West of England club has shown remarkable consistency at the national level.

Even if his record is still light.

If they were crowned champions against the Wasps in 2017, the Chiefs lost their three other finals against the Sarries of which they are, in many ways, the exact opposite.

They were still just a club struggling to stay in D4 when their path crossed that of the man who changed their destiny, their earthy owner Tony Rowe, 70.

Bugle in the Royal Navy at age 15, powerboating champion in the 1970s, successful entrepreneur in the early 1980s by founding Southwest Communication, a telecommunications network company which today employs 150 people and generates nearly 30 million dollars. euros in annual turnover, Rowe knows all about success stories.

- "Experiences that hurt" -

It was in 1993 that he put his first foot in the club by becoming the jersey sponsor for 4,000 pounds at the time and by already investing in the march of the Chiefs.

In 1995, it is the accession in D3.

And, the following year, in D2.

Rowe then takes the head of the club with a fixed idea: to go to the Premiership to stay there.

In 2006, Exeter moved to Sandy Park, built for him, and moved to full professionalism.

Two years later, the club fails at the gates of accession.

Rebelote the following year.

But 2010 will be good: the Chiefs beat Bristol in the play-off.

They go up to the Premiership never to go down again.

Their relationship with the European Cup - which began with a defeat against Montpellier one afternoon in October 2010, in the Challenge Cup - followed the same slow, sometimes cruel, but determined path.

One year after reaching the semi-finals of the Challenge Cup in 2015, the Chiefs left the pools of the "big" European Cup but lost by one point in the quarter against the Wasps (25-24).

"There were a few experiences that hurt," coach Rob Baxter admitted recently in columns on the "i" website.

"The quarter-final against the Wasps was one of the games of the season and losing it on a conversion at the final whistle was very tough," he said.

- No self-satisfaction -

This year, with the second record of the group stage behind Leinster, eliminated by the Saracens in the quarter, the Chiefs have secured an opponent within their reach, Northampton, beaten 38-15, and home ground advantage in the half. final.

But don't count on them for self-satisfaction.

"There is no feeling within the club that (this place in the semi-finals) is enough and the players do not have a big smile on their faces as if they had won the jackpot," Baxter warned on Tuesday. .

This semi-final is just a new stage of development for the club, passed under the leadership of Rowe from a budget of 150,000 pounds to 16.5 M GBP (18 M EUR) in 22 years and with economic strength enviable in this time of health crisis.

"Because we have had a sound trade policy for the last twenty years or more, we have been fortunate to be able to rely on certain assets to raise the funds necessary for the continuation of the operations", underlined Rowe in August, referring to the stadium hospitality activities.

But the exhibition offered by the semi-final - while waiting for something better - should allow further development, via the extension of the stadium from 13,500 places currently to 20,000 in the long term.

Toulouse is warned: the Chiefs are not ready to bury the hatchet.

© 2020 AFP