Tony Rowe, the chairman and chief executive of Exeter Chiefs, gave a dressing-room dressing-down to the Chiefs’ struggling squad after they were dealt a record defeat by Gloucester.
Exeter crumbled to their heaviest-ever Premiership defeat at Kingsholm to continue a miserable season that has seen them battling at the bottom with Newcastle.
Only a keeps the Chiefs from occupying the bottom place in the division, a steep fall for the two-time champions after an encouraging campaign last year.
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Long-serving head coach Ali Hepher was replaced by Rob Hunter in March, with director of rugby Rob Baxter also now under developing pressure nearing the end of a season that has brought just three wins.
And the outspoken Rowe – whose financial backing helped Exeter rise through the leagues into the Premiership in 2010 – was not at all pleased with the Gloucester performance, with TNT Sports cameras capturing the chairman ranting at the players in the dressing room before walking out.
“Tony is entirely entitled to come in there and fire into everybody,” Exeter head coach Hunter said of Rowe’s intervention. “He puts a lot of time and effort into the club, and his expectations and everyone else’s expectations should be way, way higher than that.
“It was my worst day as a coach. Aside from how we feel individually, the first thing to recognise is that it was no way acceptable for us to perform like that. There is no hiding away, and we haven’t tried to hide away from that in the changing room.
“Gloucester played really well, but I think we gifted them momentum in almost every facet of the game. They are capable of scoring a lot of points, and if the game slips away from you in this league at the moment you can concede a lot very quickly.
“Quite clearly, we have gone underneath an avalanche of pressure and intensity from Gloucester and wilted underneath it. It is not a case of back to the drawing board, it is more a case of lessons you feel you are learning, you are not learning.
“We are not going to run away from this, we are going to sit on it all week and we are going to simmer on it it until we play our next game. Nobody is looking for an arm around them.”
Exeter’s men face Northampton, Harlequins and Sale in their final three games of the season.
Their women’s side are seeking a new head coach after missing out on the Premiership Women’s Rugby (PWR) play-offs. Steve Salvin has been placed in interim charge after the departure of the popular Susie Appleby, who had coached the team since their formation.