New Premiership fixtures confirmed

“We know it will be a fantastic challenge very early in the season. The weather should be good, the pitch will be in excellent condition, and everyone is aware the Kingsholm crowd will be very vocal, so it’s a good test for us. Gloucester, we know, will be buoyed by some new signings and a new head coach, so it is a very interesting start point for us.”

With the Cherry & Whites first up, the Chiefs will then entertain newly-promoted London Irish, before clashes with Worcester Warriors (away) and old rivals Wasps a week later. The month of September concludes with a third away day at Leicester Tigers.

Baxter, though, is relishing what lies ahead, adding: “It doesn’t matter who won the Aviva Premiership last season, the league table right now says zero points and we have got to start collecting them again.

“That first group of fixtures of going away at Gloucester, having London Irish come to us and they will have a point to prove, and then going away to Worcester where last season where we had a really tough fixture and a hell of a lot of points were scored, and then having the regular enemy in Wasps back here in our fourth game. If you’re a supporter, it is an absolutely fantastic block of games within the space of a month.”

As defending champions, the Chiefs are well aware they will be there to be shot at by their rivals. It’s new territory for Devon’s finest, but Baxter insists he, his fellow coaches, together with the squad itself will not deviating too far away from last season’s winning formula.

“It’s like anything, the biggest mistake we can make is that we sit back and have that mentality,” continued Baxter. “If we actually sit back and think we’re now the hunted and that teams are going to come after us, we’re going to be making a bit of a mistake.

“What we have to do is do what we did last year - and that means we have to go out there and really go after games and be the team looking to score not only the most points, but be the team who keep the ball in play and really challenge the opposition.

“That’s very much what we have to talk about now. It’s not about we’re the team at the top and people are shooting at us, it’s more a case of what we can achieve further and how can we take those things into our hands.”

As well as Exeter’s trip up the M5 to Gloucester, the opening weekend will also see the traditional London Double Header return to Twickenham, with newly-promoted London Irish facing Harlequins, while North London side Saracens take on Northampton Saints.