Player interview: Joe Bailey
Published on: 09/11/2026
Patience seems to have been a virtue for Joe Bailey. A fortnight ago, four seasons on from making his competitive debut in the PREM Rugby Cup, the young lock earned his Gallagher PREM debut for Exeter Chiefs. Last weekend, he started against Bath Rugby.
His first outing as a Chief came back in September 2022 against Bristol Bears in a 20-35 away cup win at Ashton Gate. A European debut in the Investec Champions Cup followed a couple of seasons later over in Belfast against Ulster Rugby. It’s been a steady journey towards ticking the final box, his league debut.
Bailey said: “Those debuts were both a good experience all on their own. I was probably hoping that this debut would’ve come a little sooner, but I’ve had to work exceptionally hard for this one. That probably made it sweeter.
“I felt like it was the right time. It had seemed like I was simmering away thinking I was ready the past few weeks in training, so to get the nod and actually play was a great feeling.”
It wasn’t a simple week preparing for the Harlequins game. Chiefs were kept on tenterhooks until Thursday afternoon’s injury reviews on Wallabies’ back-rower Tom Hooper and Wales’s lock Dafydd Jenkins before being able to confirm their line-up. So, 22-year-old Bailey trained all week unsure if the shirt would be his or not come kick-off on Saturday afternoon.
He explained: “I found out on late Thursday afternoon. We were in an academy meeting, and I got a text from Rob, so I looked down at my phone to see he’d said, ‘Just to let you know, you’re on the bench on Saturday’.
“I originally thought he meant for this week for cup! I thought, ‘Ugh, that’s so frustrating’. Then I saw it said for last Saturday and the fact it was quickly followed by the team confirmation email, I realised it was for the PREM.”
And so, the trifecta is complete – cup, European and league debut all secured. It may have taken longer than he originally foresaw, but what does he feel he’s learned in that time?
Bailey reflected: “If I’m honest, I think I’ve just become a better rugby player. I remember coming on in that European game and I felt so tired. While that’s sometimes a good thing, when I watch it back, I’m just running around like a headless chicken because I just wanted to do this and wanted to do that. So, I feel like I’ve matured in a game sense.
“I think this debut just came at the right time. I know more about the game now, I’m more comfortable in picking stuff up and learning during the week. A few years ago, if I’d have learned a couple days before that I was playing a game like that, I’d have pooped my pants! But this year, I knew what I was doing automatically.”
It helps that Bailey is not alone in his journey to break into the Chiefs first team. He is one of a large cohort of EURFC graduates from the Chiefs player pathway at the University of Exeter. On a weekly basis, he trains alongside teammates and close friends Ben Coen, Finn Worley Brady, Louie Gulley and Kane James. The group, he says, provides each other constant reassurance and support.
He said: “It helps having a group like that, because we all help each other out. I lived with Finn and Oscar [Beckerleg] last year, so in any games that we were playing together, we’d do loads of walkthroughs at home. Little things like that at home would help us learn what we needed to know for the game.
“It makes life easier and allows you to lean on other people in pressure scenarios. And ultimately, you’re playing alongside some of your best mates, so that always helps.
“The senior boys are all super approachable people too. You’ve got your favourites of who to go to for advice, but I’d say the squad as a whole is inclusive, there’s no cliques really. We’re so involved with each other and all together that it makes stuff like that really easy.”
While they’re unified in their connection as friends, they’re often fierce competitors for team selection. The pack has always been an area of strength in the Chiefs squad, but each player utilises their own USP. What does Bailey believe is his best trait as a player that may have given him the edge for selection recently?
Bailey explained: “I’d kind of describe myself as a bit of a glue player. I’m a high action player and in a way, I’m a bit of a jack of all trades, though I know that can sometimes be seen as a bad saying. Helping people out and doing the unseen work is where I’d like to think I thrive.”
He added: “We’re at our best when we’re competitive. You can’t drop your guard. They’ve [the internationals and first-team starters] got to fight to keep their positions and we’re chasing their heels trying to take the shirts off them. That situation is when we’re all at our best and we get the best out of each other. That improves the training quality and helps to best prep the team going into playing at the weekend.”
The weekend pitted Chiefs against Bath Rugby in the third round of the PREM Rugby Cup. Chiefs sit two positions ahead of their West Country rivals in the pool A table, but Johann van Graan’s squad is thriving with exciting, young talent just waiting for their opportunity. They, like Chiefs, have a point to prove and a momentum-gathering result to try to claim.
Bailey said: “We know they’re a good set-piece team, so we’re expecting them to come at us in that area of the game. They’ve always got a good pack. The pace they play the game at is kind of stop-start, so we’re expecting them to come at us and try to control the game, maybe slow it a little. We know how we want to counter that and we want to match their energy so that when they go hard, we can go even harder.”
Written By:
Exeter Chiefs Rugby Club
