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Exeter boss makes extraordinary vow after US takeover

Henry Slade of Exeter Chiefs celebrates with Exeter Chiefs chairman Tony Rowe after their victory during the Gallagher PREM semi final match between Bath Rugby and Exeter Chiefs at the Recreation Ground on June 13, 2026 in Bath, England. (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)
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Tony Rowe has never been shy about his ambitions for Exeter Chiefs, and he says that he wants to help new owners Black Knight Rugby make them the best club side in the world.

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Black Knight Rugby completed their £45m takeover of the Gallagher Prem finalists on Tuesday, and Rowe, who has bankrolled the club for 25 years, is staying on for the next two years as chief executive.

After the club were promoted to the top flight of English rugby, Rowe said that he wanted the club to become Premiership and European champions, and people scoffed at the thought.

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Then, six years ago, they won the Premiership and Investec Champions Cup double, but now Rowe has his sights set much higher, with the first Rugby Club World Cup planned for 2028. He wants world domination.

“We have been in the PREM for the last 20 years, and I consider we are in the top echelon of rugby in Europe, but we need to move on to the next phase, and the membership has not got the money to put on the table and pay the bills.

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“It’s a shame really, but I haven’t sold the club out. What we have done is find a partner who is prepared to let us continue and fund us along the way. We want to be in the world club competition.

“I have got no doubts that we will get back to being in the finals of the European competitions in the next two to four years. And that’s our target. We want to be the best club in the world,” said Rowe.

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Rowe says that when the Chiefs first launched their search for investment, it soon became clear that Cannae Holding’s vice-chairman Bill Foley and chief executive Ryan Caswell, who own AFC Bournemouth and NHL side Las Vegas Black Knights, stood out from the crowd.

“The 2024-2025 season was a disaster for us, and by roughly this time last year we were aware that we needed to look for a financial partner, and we started to look around then. It came as no surprise; we could see it coming down the track.

“We hoped that the supporters would come back and we could trade our way out of problems, but it didn’t happen. The agents that we appointed went out to the marketplace, and there were something like 86 interested parties around the world.

“And I think they were whittled down to about 11 or 12 who were seriously interested. But when you looked at who they were and what they could offer and what involvement they had with sport, there were only two or three that you would contemplate.

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“Black Knight stood out. Three or four years ago, they took over AFC Bournemouth, and they appear to have done a fantastic job there,” added Rowe.

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Phantom 1 hour ago
Nations Championship: 'The data shows the north has finally caught up with the south'

Fact: the gap between the North and the South has narrowed considerably - that I get. However, determining that only selecting only Home grown players or playing in the home country is is the optimal strategy is a bit of a toss up and highly reliant on the economies of the home union. I do understand that England and to a lesser degree Ireland selects home based only. The top 14 is a massive threat to their domestic product. France would probably not be affected (the money is at home). Fiji, Argentina, Samoa, Italy and you could even argue Scotland have only benefitted from this. Their players either go overseas to learn at higher levels (Fiji, Samoa, Argentina) or players coming into their leagues to strengthen the home product and their National teams (Scotland, Italy, Japan).

South Africa used to limit its selection to the home based players, but the reality of a weak currency vs what players could earn oversees meant that you lost access to your best players at some stage of their careers, with very few exceptions. Kolbe left SA as he was considered too small for International Rugby (yes coaches/selectors view), but ironically in France he forced selectors to notice his endeavors and select him. He is only reaching 50 caps now despite being north of 30 - granted rotation and the odd injury also played a role, but for the most part it is having debuted or becoming a regular so late.



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