Having been a stalwart of the Exeter Chiefs front row for the past 12 years, Jack Yeandle has experienced the highest and lowest points, on a rollercoaster ride with the Devon club. Arriving at a newly-promoted Exeter in 2012 from Doncaster, Yeandle settled into his new life in the West Country as the Chiefs began to gain traction in the top division.
What followed was an assortment of silverware, as the Chiefs continued to rise through the ranks to claim their maiden Premiership title in the 2016/17 season. The Chiefs reached their pinnacle in the 2019/20 campaign, as they claimed the Premiership and Champions Cup double, in what was an unforgettable year for the Sandy Park faithful.
Now, Yeandle eyes up his fourth Champions Cup quarter-final, with the goal of returning to the promise land in this new era of Exeter rugby. Now flying under a Celtic Chief banner in a tournament with fresh Investec sponsorship, there is a new feel to this tournament but the old mission objective remains the same. Yeandle explained how his previous winning experiences within the competition, could well boost his side as they tackle Toulouse this Sunday in the quarter-finals.
“To be fair, it does help a bit. But just because it’s a big game, in a big stadium, against a big team, it doesn’t mean you need to go and change what you do and how you go about things. I think you probably saw that in the manner of how we played last week (against Bath). You know, it was a big game. Particularly after the previous week when we had a really poor performance away at Sale.
“But it didn’t necessarily mean we went and changed the way of how we want to play and how we went about things. I think it was just a lot of simple things than were done really, really well. It was done at an intensity that ultimately got us over the line at the end. You look at that first half, Bath kept us out, but longer term it sort of made us grow as a team. Because we kept chipping and chipping away. It’s like pounding the rock, you keep hitting it and hitting it, eventually the rock’s going to break.”
Yeandle has previously experienced the might that Toulouse bring to the Champions Cup, with his Chiefs side achieving a milestone win on their road to 2020 glory. However, the semi-final triumph at Sandy Park did not have the raucous atmosphere affiliated with the competition, due to the fixture falling in the midst of the global Covid lockdown. The two titans of European rugby clashed in front of empty seats, with every thud and clatter into contact amplified through the broadcast speakers to the onlooking supporters from home.
Yeandle discussed his memories from that physical encounter with Toulouse, which saw the Chiefs triumph 28-18 in the Sandy Park fortress. The impressive win saw tries from Harry Williams and the Simmonds brothers, as Exeter marched on for the finale showdown with another French giant in the form of the Finn Russell orchestrated Racing 92.
“Very, very physical game, very physical game. And also as well, just the sort of tempo and pace that was played out particularly in that first half was was crazy. And I think, you know, trying to stay on the right side of the result that kind of came from how hard that first half was. And then you know, spaces began to open on the outside in the second half and Joe (Simmonds) went through for that for that try the end. But yeah, it was it was a very intense game very, very intense game.”
“It’s, it’s going to be tricky, because, you know, predominantly, you get it a lot when your players speak about French teams. You get that sort of plays where they can just start to offload the ball out of anywhere. Toulouse, when they have a go, they sort of is ‘one in all in’, they start just going from absolutely everywhere.
“If we can sort of contain that a little bit, and it’s not going to be easy to contain and you’re going to be able to do all the time, but if you can contain some of it, then a super strength can potentially become a weakness. But we’ve got to make sure that happens and not just thinking about it, you’ve got to go and make it happen.”
This is certainly a new look Exeter Chiefs side from the one which reached the summit of European club rugby four years ago. However, the youthful exuberance has carried this team to the Champions Cup quarter-finals, under the leadership of 21-year-old Wales captain Dafydd Jenkins. Yeandle does not believe that the age of his teammates is a factor, when looking to progress into the final four of this season’s Champions Cup.
“You’ve got young lads in there who are now international superstars. I mean, just because they’re young, doesn’t mean they’re not experienced. And you know, we’ve had this so called ‘new team’ for the season now, and I think most big occasions, they’ve stepped up. So, I’d like to think they’ve got enough experience under their belts to go out there and thrive.”
“It’s brilliant. But you know, it’s a challenge to go and have a go. You don’t want to go there and lie on your backs and let them do what they want, you’ve got to embrace it. And that’s the joy of the Champions Cup, you can go against amazing teams, and amazing places, and amazing venues. But it’s still a game of rugby, you know, it’s still 15 blokes on the field for your team. It’s about how hard you can go about things.”