Team news: Chiefs ready for season opener against Gloucester in Cup

Exeter Chiefs will begin their 2025/26 season at Kingsholm Stadium in a PREM Cup match against Gloucester Rugby on Friday night.

There are five debutants in the match 23. Joseph Dweba, Stephen Varney and trialist Harry Ascherl are all named to start while Andrea Zambonin and Charlie Chapman wait to be called upon from the bench.

Chiefs’ director of rugby Rob Baxter said: “It’s important for us to be successful in the cup as that will enable us to carry momentum into the league, and that’ll be key for us this season.

“To enter the PREM season ready to go, you have to put high energy and high intensity into these games. Our focus in this block will be to play in a way to maximise our opportunities and our minutes on the ball. We don’t want to overcomplicate things, we’re focusing inwards on ourselves and what we can achieve.”

Will Goodrick-Clarke and Josh Iosefa-Scott ensure the pack has some front-line power as they join summer signing Dweba in the front row.

Having played together since they were teenagers, Lewis Pearson and Rusi Tuima form a comfortable second row pairing.

The front eight is completed by an all international back-row of Christ Tshiunza at blindside flanker, match captain Ethan Roots at openside and Ross Vintcent as the eighth-man.

A new half-back partnership is formed as scrum-half Varney takes his place beside fly-half Harvey Skinner for the first time in a competitive meeting.

Having both scored in last weekend’s Ospreys friendly, Ben Hammersley joins Ascherl in the centres with Nick Lilley and Paul Brown-Bampoe on the wing. Will Haydon-Wood remains at full-back as Josh Hodge continues his short-term injury recovery programme.

Baxter said: “We’re expecting Gloucester to play in a similar way to our last fixture against them, as they had a very successful game plan that day, so it’s for us to prove we’re a completely different team than the one they faced back in April.”

There is a wealth of experience in the replacement front row as club captain Jack Yeandle is named with Kwenzo Blose and Jimmy Roots. Italy’s Zambonin then joins youngster Kane James in covering the back five.

For the backline, the replacements include Chapman, Ben Coen and Zack Wimbush.

The game kicks off at 19:30 in Gloucester with tickets available on their website here.

Exeter Chiefs:

15 Will Haydon-Wood

14 Paul Brown-Bampoe

13 Ben Hammersley

12 Harry Ascherl

11 Nick Lilley

10 Harvey Skinner

9 Stephen Varney

1 Will Goodrick-Clarke

2 Joseph Dweba

3 Josh Iosefa-Scott

4 Lewis Pearson

5 Rusi Tuima

6 Christ Tshiunza

7 Ethan Roots (c)

8 Ross Vintcent

Replacements:

16 Jack Yeandle

17 Kwenzo Blose

18 Jimmy Roots

19 Andrea Zambonin

20 Kane James

21 Charlie Chapman

22 Ben Coen

23 Zack Wimbush