"All-action" - Exeter Chiefs sign back-rower for next season

The 25-year-old forward is Rob Baxter’s latest addition to his squad for the 2023/24 season and will join from United Rugby Championship outfit, Ospreys Rugby, this summer.

The all-action, back-rower joined the Welsh region in March 2021 from the Crusaders and has since gone on to establish himself as a physical on-field force.

The arrival of Roots will come some way to helping fill the void left by the departing Dave Ewers and Sam Simmonds, two men the newcomer admitted he has high praise for.

“Everyone knows there are some big names leaving the club, but for me that is part of the challenge, I want to try and help fill those big shoes,” said Roots.

“It’s an exciting move for me and my family and I’m looking forward to having a crack at the Premiership for the first time. Chatting with Rob, he outlined the vision for the future of the club and how he wants us as players to lay the foundations for the years to come.

“As I said, I like a challenge and I like the thought of us being underdogs with a real point to prove. Exeter are an established club, one with great history and tradition, and for me it’s a great move for me at this time in my career.”

Baxter has insisted there are no issues surrounding back-row forward Simmonds’ move to French champions Montpellier next season.

He is expected to be available for next year’s World Cup but after that will be ineligible to represent his country.

Saracens boss Mark McCall said on Tuesday that he believes the departure overseas of a player in his prime has wider implications for the Gallagher Premiership.

“I say that because Sam is 27, nearing his peak and is now making himself ineligible for England,” McCall said. “I kind of understand someone who is early 30s doing it after they’ve had their international career and want to experience something different. But to start losing the best young talent in the Premiership, someone like Sam, is a worry.”

Exeter rugby director Baxter, though, has adopted a philosophical stance.

“I think people sometimes get the wrong idea about this,” Baxter said. “I talk a lot to the players and staff in that you want people to be in an environment where they can thrive, work very hard, you want them to win and be successful for each other.

“The outcome of that is it means they are attractive propositions for other clubs who want a bit of that success. There are going to be some outcomes, and some of those are going to be that they are going to get big contract offers.

“It is not a negative when a player leaves you because someone wants them and can afford to pay them more than you can. It is negative when you fall out and a person moves for no positive reason at all. It’s very rare that happens here.

“Sam goes with our blessing for a great adventure, a great opportunity in France. He has still got a lot of good rugby left in him, and we had a long chat about it. He came to us first and explained. We haven’t been in massive, long, drawn-out contract debates about it. The figures are so far apart that there hasn’t really been a debate.”

The England international has confirmed that this will be his 12th and final year at the club after signing a deal in France, following current teammate Sam Simmonds.

He told Exeter Chiefs’ official website that “it’s gutting to be leaving” having spent his entire Premiership career at the club, and the decision to depart was not easy.

“I’ve been at the Chiefs for 12 years, and it’s all I’ve known. That said, this opportunity came up, and it was one that I had to think long and hard about,” he said.

“I spoke a lot with my family about it, and it wasn’t an easy decision to make in the end.

“Obviously, it’s a different competition, a different language – which I’ll have to learn – but I think it’s time for a change.

“Hopefully, I’ve still got plenty of years left in my career, but this is an opportunity for me to go over there and show what I am all about.”

The versatile forward is returning home from Exeter to South Africa at the end of the season the club have confirmed.

Kirsten has agreed a three-year deal with his former club the Vodacom Bulls having recently run out against the South African side in Pretoria in the Heineken Champions Cup.

The 29-yea-rild lock, who can also play in the backrow row, initially signed on a short term deal at Exeter in 2019 but quickly established himself as a key player in the Chiefs squad that went on to complete the Champions Cup and Premiership double in 2020.

So far he has made 75 first-team appearances for the club, scoring six tries.

Ewers will be leaving the Gallagher Premiership club at the end of the current campaign to join United Rugby Championship side, Ulster Rugby.

The 32-year-old has been a stand-out figure for the Chiefs over many years, so far amassing 226 first-team games and 38 tries for the Devon club.

A product of the club's highly successful Academy system, Ewers made his debut back in 2009 in a British & Irish Cup fixture away to Newport at Rodney Parade.

Since then, he has helped the club to lift the LV= Cup in 2014, as well as two Premiership Rugby titles, as well a Heineken Champions Cup crown.

A destructive ball-carrier, as well as robust defender, it remains a mystery how Ewers has never been capped at Test level. A consistent performer on the big stage, he is the third confirmed departure at the end of the season, joining Luke Cowan-Dickie and Sam Simmonds, both of whom are joined French Top 14 outfit, Montpellier.

Commenting on his departure, Ewers said: "Obviously, I'm gutted to be leaving the Chiefs. It has been my life for so many years and I've been blessed to have made so many happy memories, as well as life-long friends.

"To sum up all those years in words is incredibly tough to do, but it's been an unbelievable journey and one that I am very proud to have been part of. Like all good things, they have to come an end at some stage and now I have a new chapter in my career to look forward to with Ulster.

"Between now and then, I have a big job to do here at the Chiefs and I will be doing everything I can to ensure that my final months with Exeter are the best they can be."

Devon Live and The Rugby Paper state that the 31-year-old is rumoured to be planning a move to the south of France, after months of speculation.

Exeter Chiefs have had to let numerous first team stars go come the end of the season, as the Devonshire club is financially unable to match the wage offers presented from the bidding overseas clubs.

Williams has been a mainstay with the Chiefs since 2015, after crossing the English Channel and arriving from Championship side Jersey.

He has made 161 appearances for the Chiefs, and has three decorated winners medals with the club. The prop was a pivotal front-row pillar for Exeter’s first ever Premiership title in 2016/17, and the 2020 Premiership and Heineken Champions Cup double.

The Rugby Paper report the star winger’s CV is currently doing the rounds in the French Top 14 with the 29-year-old out of contract at Sandy Park at the end of the season. Reports since have suggested has has signed a pre-contract agreement with La Rochelle.

Responding to the speculation, Nowell has revealed he’d love to stay at Sandy Park, but added he must always put his ‘family first’.

Speaking exclusively to The Telegraph, he said: “I won’t go to another Premiership side,”

“I want to stay at Exeter, but I’m out of contract, there’s stuff going on with the salary cap and I’ve got a growing family. And I’ll be 30 after the World Cup. I’m in talks with the club at the moment; ideally I’d stay but I’m not too sure what’s going on. The first thing for me is my family.

“My only option if I’m in England is to stay. France, Japan… I went out to Japan for the World Cup – it was an amazing country. I’d like to give Japan a go over France but, obviously, anything could happen.

“There will potentially be a time when I go somewhere else but my roots are here and I’d always end up back here. At the same time, I am quite ‘out there’ as a person and I like my family to be like that so, if I’m given the chance to experience something else with them, then I have to take it.

"The flipside is, if I can get stuff sorted here and I’m still in a position where I can look after the family. I love the club dearly and my main option would be to stay, if I can get something sorted.”

According to reports from the French media, the fly-half has agreed to join Pau for the upcoming season to fill the void left by Zack Henry's departure to Stade Francais.

This potential transfer would result in Simmonds facing off against his older brother Sam, who is currently a back-rower for Exeter and whose move to Montpellier was finalized last September.

The Scotland and Exeter full-back has announced he will retire from rugby after the World Cup in France this autumn.

Hogg, who turns 31 in June, recently earned his 100th cap and has scored 171 international points.

"I don't feel my body can achieve the standards that I set myself for much longer," he said.

"I've always wanted to finish at the top end of the game. After the tournament, a new career beckons and I will attack it in the same manner as I play the game."