Exeter Chiefs and the rise from Devon minnows to England’s big fish | Robert Kitson

The Chiefs’ steady ascent to the top of the Premiership is in no small part down to the emergence of Cornwall’s finest, Luke Cowan-Dickie and Jack NowellTo play for Exeter Chiefs at present is to be floating on fresh west country air. Top of the Aviva Premiership table with five matches left, they are in danger of rivalling Leicester City as this year’s most beguiling sports story. The difference is that no one in football saw the Foxes coming. The Chiefs, in contrast, have been tracking the establishment for six seasons, edging ever closer to springing the local-hero ambush that would deliver…