Why Exeter Chiefs Must Lose Their Small-Club Mentality
FC Barcelona are one of the most famous clubs in the world, and with the likes of Lionel Messi in their ranks they are also one of the best. They are currently in unbelievable form, top of the Spanish league and 19 points ahead of Real Madrid. If they were to crash out of the Champions League after losing to the team bottom of their group, there would be understandable uproar. So why isn’t this the case for Exeter Chiefs? After losing twice to Leinster in the middle of their European campaign, the Chiefs had to beat Glasgow Warriors, situated rock bottom of Group B on 2 points, in order to progress to the knockout stages of the European Champions Cup. They failed. This now means that the current Premiership champions, the team who beat Saracens and Wasps en route to achieving domestic success, will play no further part in the tournament in which they were expected to flourish, but instead fell at the first hurdle. But how has this failure been allowed to happen? Put simply, Exet...