Exeter manager Rob Baxter says Henry Slade’s leadership was key to his team reaching the Prem final.
The England centre-back, 33, has performed well in recent weeks – leading Baxter to describe him as “world class”.
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Slade was booked for a deliberate knock in the first half of their semi-final in Bath on Saturday.
But he came back to help organize a historic battle as the Chiefs overcame a 26-10 deficit to win 27-26 and become the first third-placed team to enter the Prem finals.
“Our veteran player did something stupid on the pitch today,” Baxter told BBC Sport.
“Because he also knew as soon as he saw him he almost went ‘oh how did I do that, what did I do’ when he snatched the ball from his hands.
“But he was very nice and well-spoken.
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“When you get there you understand that you can do things, when you come from behind you don’t understand that you can do things, when you win the Premiership final you understand that you can do it, you don’t limit yourself to what you can achieve.
“I think he’s just helping the boys believe that.”
Rob Baxter (left) has been Henry Slade’s coach throughout his club career [Shutterstock]
Slade, who has won 74 England caps and played in the 2019 World Cup final, is one of Exeter’s few remaining players with past club experience.
The Sandy Park academy graduate helped Exeter reach six consecutive Premiership finals from 2016 to 2021 – lifting the trophy in 2017 and 2020 – as well as winning the European Champions Cup in 2020.
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But in that Exeter side, stars like Jack Nowell, Luke Cowan-Dickie, Sam Simmonds and Stuart Hogg left the club as the financial realities of Covid-19.
It led to the entry of many new faces, but success eluded them.
A seventh-placed finish in a row was followed by a ninth consecutive season as Exeter suffered their heaviest defeat and finished with just four wins all season – their worst top-flight campaign ever.
Now Baxter hopes that some of their departing players – such as ex-Australian Scott Sio – have the chance to end their Exeter career as they head to Twickenham next Saturday to face season-opening Northampton Saints.
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“I have said to a few of them, the thing that I am proud of or I am very happy about is that they experienced this season which I can call an honorable Exeter Chiefs season,” said Baxter.
“We’ve had a few guys who haven’t been the ones to deal with it and I was starting to hate it a little bit.
“A guy like Scott Sio, I bring him in, I ask him to be part of something, I tell him I think we can build something special – and he’s four years old, and one of the worst years the club has had.
“You think ‘it’s just not the way I wanted it to be for these guys’ because he’s completely committed to everything.
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“For him to continue playing in the semi-final winner, who is now playing in the Premiership final, the same with Christ Tshiunza, the same with Rusi (Tuima), these boys have never seen a good Premiership season and they are feeling it now and I hope we can finish it with these boys.”
