Rowe still feels Exeter can make top four

Exeter chief executive Tony Rowe feels the club's men's side can still make the Premiership top four despite their poor start to the season.

The Chiefs have lost a club-record six successive top-flight matches and sit second-from-bottom of the Premiership.

But they have had two big wins over Championship sides Cornish Pirates and Hartpury in the Premiership Rugby Cup - a tournament he is targeting for silverware.

"I think we should have a good cup run," Rowe told BBC Radio Devon.

"Premiership, I'd like to think we can get back to top four, and [in] Europe if we can get ourselves to the quarter-finals I think we've done well.

"There's still an ambition to achieve this year. It's early days, the European games have not even started and we're not halfway through the Premiership games yet and we will improve."

Exeter lost a host of experienced players in the summer of 2023 after the Premiership's salary cap was cut from £6.4m to £5m in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The club has reduced its budget, with director of rugby Rob Baxter last month saying the club was "miles off the salary cap".

Rowe says Exeter lost £17.5m after being forced to play games behind closed doors, while the subsequent rise in the cost of living has seen the club's costs increase and some fans decide to stay away as they prioritise their spending elsewhere.

"Going into Covid, the club was financially very sound - we had surplus in the bank and we could afford to spend up to the salary cap," Rowe said.

"I've had to haul Rob (Baxter, director of rugby) back a little bit over the last couple of years.

"But that's not to say that I believe we've got a substandard side because what we've done is we've recruited quite well through our academy, and part of our academy is Exeter University, and we've got quite an influx of of good, talented young men in there."

He added: "It is what it is, if we can't afford them we can't afford to go out there in the marketplace.

"Top-quality guys actually cost a lot of money, and part of the reason why we had to release a few of our players was because we couldn't afford them, they just didn't fit in our salary cap."