ALL EYES ON ROSS

OSS VINTCENT sees a lot of similarities between Exeter and Italy, the two teams for whom he struts his powerful, dynamic stuff. The 22-year-old No 8 recognises the crossover in age profile and mentality but is also well aware of the potential shared pitfalls, having been part of a young Chiefs group's struggles to back up an impressive breakout campaign.

- MARK PALMER

A key figure in a record-breaking 2024 Six Nations tournament for the Azzurri, Vintcent is desperate for Gonzalo Quesada's side to avoid a second-season slump of their own.

“I find there are quite a lot of overlaps between the Italian team and Exeter,” he confirms. “Italy have been underdogs for a number of years but Exeter last year were also the underdogs. It connected quite nicely, the fact that I was part of that Italian side who were the underdogs and who went out with no expectation; just to play some rugby, enjoy ourselves and express ourselves freely on the field.

Similar to the Chiefs, there is a bit more of an expectation this year.

“What I’ve learned the last couple of months is that we can keep going with the same mindset that we did last year, which is that we want to play rugby, we want to run the ball around, we want to play the space. We don’t want the attitude this year to be, ‘Oh, we should be winning these games,’ because that just puts unnecessary pressure on us.

“With Exeter I think we’ve been caught expecting things to go our way, rather than what we did last year when we were underdogs. We made things happen and we constructed a game to get the best chance of winning.

“Maybe it’s a mindset thing but I think teams have also been able to handle our threats very well. The likes of Manny (Feyi-Waboso) and some big names last year, they’re well-known now. Opposing teams have footage to analyse.

“The coaches and the fans have been very patient with us; still backing us, still behind us. I think it’s definitely a phase that we will come out of, and if there’s anyone to lead us through this period, it’s Rob Baxter, who’s done it before.