Latest news with #AliHepher
BBC News
17-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Walder takes up Exeter Chiefs coaching role
Exeter Chiefs have appointed England Under-20s attack coach Dave Walder as an assistant to the club's coaching 46-year-old former Newcastle Falcons boss has been coaching the club's backs in recent weeks following the suspension of previous backs and attack coach Ali and head coach Rob Hunter were stood down from their roles in the wake of Exeter's club-record 79-17 loss at Gloucester last month. The pair have both since left the club, with Hepher ending his 16-year spell at Sandy Park on this week, director of rugby Rob Baxter refused to comment on whether Walder was helping the side, despite a photo on the club's social media showing him at a training session."I'm really excited to have the opportunity to come down to the Chiefs to work with a really talented group of players as well as a young, dynamic coaching group," Walder told the club website., external"I can't wait to get started; I'm looking forward to working with this squad. "It's obviously been a really tough year for them results-wise, but the green shoots of growth are there, so I'm excited to work with the group moving forward." Walder has also spent time as Bristol's backs and skills coach and joins Exeter as the club comes to the end of their worst season in the top have won just four Premiership games all season and are guaranteed to finish second from will be part of the Exeter coaching team for Sunday's trip to Harlequins."I've known Dave a long time, and I really appreciate the work he put in for a lengthy period at Newcastle," Baxter said."I thought he did a fantastic job there with relatively limited resources. He always brought out the best in the group that he had working with him."More recently, he's been working with some of our England Under-20 players, and those guys have only had positive things to say about him."It's fantastic for us to have someone of his experience and capabilities joining us. "Hopefully he'll take us forward with our attacking game and how we want our backs to play. With him coming on board, we're really looking forward to getting on with the remainder of the season."
BBC News
16-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Hepher leaves Exeter by mutual consent after 16 years
Long-serving Exeter Chiefs coach Ali Hepher has left the Premiership club by mutual 50-year-old had been suspended from his role as backs and attack coach last month in the wake of Exeter's club-record 79-17 loss at former Northampton fly-half had been part of Exeter's coaching set-up since 2009 when he joined then newly-appointed boss Rob was promoted to head coach in 2017, but was demoted earlier this year as Chiefs suffered their worst season since promotion to the Premiership in are ninth in England's top flight having lost 12 of their 16 had been due to take on a role transitioning players between the academy and first team this of rugby Baxter has refused to comment on whether former Newcastle boss Dave Walder will take over Hepher's role - despite being pictured in a club photograph during a training session last week. Under Hepher's time at the club Exeter won two Premiership titles and the 2020 European Champions exit comes soon after Rob Hunter - who succeeded him as head coach - also left."Ali has contributed immensely to Exeter Rugby Club over a long period of sustained success," chairman Tony Rowe said in a statement."His influence on our coaching environment and playing culture has been considerable and I would like to wish him all the best for the future."Baxter added: "Working alongside Ali for so many seasons has been a genuine privilege."His insight, energy, and passion for the game have helped drive this club forward in countless ways and I know everyone here will join me in thanking him for all he's done."
BBC News
14-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Exeter boss Baxter tight-lipped on Walder links
Exeter director of rugby Rob Baxter has refused to confirm whether former Newcastle and Bristol coach Dave Walder has joined the club.A photo appearing to show Walder as part of a huddle with the Exeter team was posted on the club's Instagram account, external on has been strongly linked with taking over from Ali Hepher as the club's backs and attacks coachLong-serving Hepher - Baxter's first coaching appointment in 2009 - was demoted from head coach to backs coach in March and is due to take up a role helping transition academy players into the senior he was suspended last month in the wake of the club's record 79-17 loss at Gloucester, which saw newly appointed head coach Rob Hunter leave Sandy has taken control of day-to-day coaching alongside defence coach Haydn Thomas and skills coach Ricky Pellow."He wasn't at the game at the weekend," Baxter told BBC Sport when asked about Walder."Right here and now we're just getting on with things with the coaching group we've got."Things will progress once all those decisions have been made, which are outside of my remit."I'm not involved in what's happening now around what's happening around staffing." As well as a new backs coach, Exeter are also expected to appoint a new forwards specialist following Hunter's departure. The quartet of Baxter, Hunter, Hepher and Pellow has been at the helm for all of Exeter's achievements - including six consecutive Premiership finals, of which they won two, and a victory in the 2020 European Champions Cup. But the Chiefs have struggled to match the form of the final half of the 2010s in the past few seasons, finishing seventh in the last three campaign has been the worst in the club's top-flight history - they will finish ninth in the 10-team Premiership and have won just four league games. "We're really trying to focus on what will make us a stronger team day by day, week by week, going forward," Baxter added."Our biggest challenge is becoming as strong a team as we can first and everything else will come secondary to that. That's what I'm focusing on now."I'm focusing on the qualities that will make us a stronger team and I'm keeping it that simple."Because the foundation for us to be successful is how good any 15 players are at any one time on the field together - and that's the bit I'm really focusing on, keeping it that simple."
BBC News
12-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Exeter need to 'grow up' despite rare win
Exeter director of rugby Rob Baxter says he is not happy with the standards his side set in their 42-14 win over Saints fielding a second-string team as they focus on the European Champions Cup final, Exeter's frontline squad earned a bonus-point it came despite a host of errors which upset the Exeter boss, who has taken control of coaching after the removal of head coach Rob Hunter and suspension of backs coach Ali Hepher in the wake of their club-record 79-17 loss at Gloucester."We've got to just grow up a little bit," Baxter told BBC Radio Devon."I think it's almost like everything that goes wrong is a bit unfair. The only things that went wrong in today's game are the things we let happen or made happen."If I can get on top of the lads then we've got a bit of a chance. But I'm not going to back down from setting high standards for the players." Baxter says he is "really looking forward to pre-season" as he tries to put the worst campaign in Exeter's recent history behind victory was just Exeter's fourth in the league this season - although as with the win over Saracens in January, it came against a side shorn of its international stars. Chiefs remain second-from-bottom, where they are guaranteed to finish, which will be their worst-ever top-flight season since promotion in 2010 - no matter how they fare against Harlequins and Sale in their final two fixtures."This is a really good opportunity for us now because we are going against two teams, and I have expectations of us being top-four next season," added Baxter, who has led Exeter to two league titles and the 2020 European Champions Cup."The first thing I'm going to say on Tuesday is 'let's see who the men are, who are the kind of players who can be a top-four person are, because right here and now some of you are almost refusing to do basic things that look after you', and we've got to get over that very, very quickly."
Telegraph
11-05-2025
- Sport
- Telegraph
Rob Baxter gives Exeter ‘10-minute b------ing' despite Northampton win
Exeter Chiefs 42 Northampton Saints 14 There has seldom been a dull day at Sandy Park of late. And, off the back of a lacklustre if comfortable victory over a Northampton second string, Exeter's director of rugby, Rob Baxter, gave his side a '10-minute b------ing' to add yet another emotional day to 2025's constantly growing list. It was less than two weeks ago that first-team coaches Rob Hunter and Ali Hepher were relieved of their duties, with Baxter returning to front-line coaching pending a review of the entire elite operation at the Chiefs. 'I've just said to them now: 'Alright, I've just b-----ed you for 10 minutes, but it's your time now – do what you like,' said Baxter. 'But you had better turn up on Tuesday ready to explain some of the things we are doing.', Baxter said. 'That's always been my approach. That's the Exeter Chiefs DNA. You go hard when you have to, and then you go hard when you don't, too. That's what it is. 'We have got to get back to the core fundamental strengths we built the team on. That we don't beat ourselves first and, if you don't beat yourself, it takes a good team to beat you. We are beating ourselves in so many areas of the game at the moment. 'I am not going to give the lads an easy way out and go in the changing room and say: 'Well done, five-point win, hallelujah, all our problems are solved.' I have gone in there and said: 'Guys, that is a regulation win, if that, against a Premiership second team and we have a lot to work on.' There is only one way you deal with [basic errors], not to say 'play without fear', that is a load of rubbish, everybody knows that. What you do is set your standards high enough in training so it doesn't feel like pressure. 'There are things that aren't acceptable and things that are. Professional rugby players do need to be able to pass the ball to someone who's five metres away. And in front of them. That is not being harsh on a player. That's an expectation they should have of each other.' Baxter was right to be grumpy. Exeter's opposition on Sunday, Northampton, arrived at Sandy Park having made 15 changes (one positional) from the Dublin dream last Saturday, with their Lions quartet rested. Six members of the Saints' match day 23 – and two starters – were making Premiership debuts. The loss meant that Northampton are now mathematically out of the play-off race but they have other priorities; the squad rotation was very much with one eye on a Champions Cup final against Bordeaux in just under a fortnight's time. It meant that Exeter were fancied to earn a comprehensive victory, their first league win since March, but the visitors gave it a real lash. The scoreline might look like a hammering but two late Exeter tries – the second of a brace each for Paul Brown-Bampoe and Harvey Skinner – flattered the Chiefs. Thanks to first-half tries from Jake Garside and captain Tom Lockett, it was a one-score match until Martin Moloney's try after an hour but even then a Saints smash-and-grab could not have been ruled out. Another one for Exeter Chiefs ⚡️ Paul Brown-Bampoe cannot be caught on his way to the try line 💨 What a breakout season the wing is having! #GallagherPrem #EXEvNOR — Rugby on TNT Sports (@rugbyontnt) May 11, 2025 Thankfully, the Chiefs - who will finish this season with their lowest ever Premiership points tally - entered the half-time break with a cushion. Tries from Exeter debutant Nick Lilley and an intercept from Skinner had cancelled out the Saints' pair before an astute finish from Bampoe-Brown gave Exeter daylight. From there, the Chiefs still looked bereft of confidence, but a late rearguard spared a full-scale Baxter meltdown. 'We made some mistakes in pre-season [last year],' the director of rugby added. 'We didn't challenge the guys enough physically, which probably means that sometimes they don't feel quite as physically prepared as they could be. 'By the time we start pre-season, I will have reviewed every bit of the programme: S&C, physio, everything. And, if it's not absolutely top notch, we'll be changing it. The one thing I can't do is criticise the players if everything off the field is not absolutely perfect; to give them a chance to thrive. If we get that bit right, I can then tell them that my expectations are for them to go flat out, as professional rugby players. If we're not providing it for you, then you need to tell me – because I'm coming after you hard. 'I'll do the review. And I'll get it right. Then, next season, it'll be on me if it's not.' Match details Scoring sequence: 5-0 Lilley try, 7-0 Slade con, 7-5 Garside try, 7-7 James con, 12-7 Skinner try, 14-7 Slade con, 19-7 Brown-Bampoe try, 21-7 Slade con, 21-12 Lockett try, 21-14 James con, 26-14 Moloney try, 28-14 Slade con, 33-14 Brown-Bampoe try, 35-14 Slade con, 40-14 Skinner try, 42-14 Hodge con. H-T: 21-7 Exeter: J Hodge; N Lilley, H Slade (Haydon-Wood 77), W Rigg (Tua 49), P Brown-Bampoe; H Skinner, S Townsend (Cairns 51); S Sio (Blose 20), J Yeandle (Frost 51), M Street (Iosefa-Scott 45), R Tuima (Tshiunza 62), D Jenkins (capt), J Vermeulen (Moloney 51), R Capstick, E Roots. Yellow card: Rigg 21 Northampton: J Garside; T Cousins, T Seabrook, T Litchfield, W Glister (Witheat 66); T James (Baker 51), J Weimann; T West (Haffar 22), H Walker (Wright 41), E Millar-Mills (Green 41), E Prowse, C Munga, T Lockett (capt) (Hunter-Hill 59), F Brown (Logan 76), A Scott-Young (Benson 68). Referee: K Dickson Attendance: 8,899
