Tony Rowe's programme notes
12/2/22
In what has certainly been an interesting few weeks for all of us here at the Rugby Club, today represents another opportunity for us to once again look into the future.
By this I mean, there is so much to be excited about as supporters of Exeter Rugby Club moving forward. Not only do we have Rob and the team challenging hard in both the Gallagher Premiership and Heineken Champions Cup, but equally Susie and her women’s team are also primed and ready for what should be a strong finish to their season.
At the same time, the new East Stand is very much up and running after months in the making, the new Sand Park Hotel is now just weeks away from completion and, after plenty of work behind the scenes, we have revealed our new club branding, which will come into play from next season.
During a time when there has been great upheaval and uncertainty, I am delighted to see such progress being made, both on and off the field, here at Sandy Park. That said, we can ill afford to stand still as the effects of the pandemic on our business will continue to take a great deal of time to fully recover from.
With our international stars away on Six Nations duty and others missing through injury and illness, I watched with the rest of you how a number of our ‘stars of the future’ stepped up to the plate against Wasps a week ago.
For many years now, we’ve never been afraid of giving youth its chance. As the old adage says: ‘If you’re good, you’re old enough’ and that has certainly been the case in recent weeks.
Whilst I shared the same disappointment as everyone else in the final result, I shared Rob’s optimism that we are indeed in a ‘good place’ and that experiences like that of last weekend, albeit gutting at the time, will ultimately serve us well in the future.
For those of you in attendance a week ago, you will no doubt have seen me make a presentation of over £25,000 at half-time to Suzanne Tracey and Ian Roome from the Royal Devon & Exeter NHS Foundation Trust, for funds raised by the club and the Exeter Chiefs Foundation following our NHS Match-Day during the game with Worcester Warriors earlier in the season.
The funds we handed over were raised from auctioning off the rainbow-inspired NHS playing kits worn in that game, along with replica t-shirts, badges and other items auctioned in the aftermath.
As a club we were delighted to make this presentation to the RD&E staff for their outstanding efforts over the past two years.