Sturge happy to be back

By Mark Stevens

Brett Sturgess says he is determined to put his injury nightmare of the past eight months firmly behind him and help Exeter Chiefs to kick-off their Aviva Premiership campaign with a bang.

The 32-year-old prop has just returned to competitive action having been sidelined since last December when he was stretchered off with a serious knee ligament injury in the final minutes of the club's clash with Harlequins in Big Game 6 at Twickenham.

Fiercely determined to get himself back amongst the first-team mix, the Kettering-born forward has worked tirelessly during his rehabilitation to get himself ready for the new 2014/15 season.

Decent run-outs for the club's Academy side against Exmouth and the Cornish All Blacks, as well as appearances off the bench in Ulster and Worcester have certainly helped to re-ignite the fire in Sturgess, who is set to begin his eighth season with the Devon club.

"It's been a tough road back, but now I'm back training and playing again there is no better feeling," he said. "It's been a while for me and I'm still a little bit rusty in places, but it's slowly coming back and having the chance to play in these pre-season games has been fantastic for me.

"Playing with all these youngsters, I feel 22 again. However, the games have been really good and it shows the programme the club have put in place with the three different colleges at Truro, Ivybridge and Bicton, as well as the link with Exeter University, is really paying off.

"Having myself and Sireli [Naqelevuki] has helped to raise the average age of the side, but for me the main thing was getting myself used to rugby again and now I can see that light at the end of the tunnel."

During an impressive career at Sandy Park, Sturgess has to date amassed some 153 appearances, scoring nine tries in the process.

However, the former Northampton Saints and Connacht front-row ace says this particularly pre-season has felt somewhat different with the squad having had to train off-site whilst multi-million pound redevelopment works at Sandy Park have taken place.

Sturgess is one of a shrinking number of current Chiefs who have been about the place since the Championship days - and although new playing stock has been brought in by head coach Rob Baxter, the ethos of team remains very much the same.

"There are a few of us still here from the Championship, but there has been a turnover of players over the last few years," explained Sturgess. "It's always going to happen at clubs, but one thing that Rob is very good at is ensuring the philosophy and ethos of the place remains the same.

"It's a lot about working hard and being one as a team and the guys that have come in this season have quickly bought into that. For all of us we can't go into the new season looking to standstill, we have to look to keep pushing on.

"We've done that every year since we got into the Premiership and although people we'll look at us not finishing so high last season in the league, we still managed to win the LV= Cup and brought through a lot of young players.

"We've had that little taste for success with the cup win, but now we want to push on again. It doesn't matter if you are pulling on the jersey for the first time or the 150th time, you have to get excited about wanting to play for this club."