Rob Baxter explains why he thinks Julian Heaven will come good at Exeter

Julian Heaven had a difficult first season with Exeter Chiefs, but Director of Rugby Rob Baxter admits that he has seen a lot of players in the same situation in his years at the club, only for them to bounce back in their second campaign.

Baxter says it happens a lot to players who move to Devon from abroad, like Heaven, 25, who was one of three Australians who moved to Sandy Park last season, all with varying degrees of success, the most successful being Tom Hooper.

Heaven signed from the NSW Waratahs, making three starts in 13 appearances last season, one of them the Challenge Cup draw at Racing 92, and scored two tries but didn’t play again after the Gallagher Prem win at Newcastle Red Bulls at the end of March.

Despite being English-qualified and Jack Yeandle suffering a season-ending injury, Heaven, who turned down the chance to play for World Cup qualifiers Spain because he didn’t want to jeopardise his EQP status, fell behind Max Norey and Joseph Dweba in the pecking order.

Baxter says that a good pre-season can see players who have struggled the season before suddenly push themselves forwards and can often make them first choice, and the same could happen with Heaven.

“It’s funny how things start to roll around again. Ten years ago, I used to get asked about players who didn’t seem to be featuring much, and I would go, “They’re getting there, and I think next season you’ll see something really special,” said Baxter.

“I look at guys who won us finals, guys like Don Armand, who hardly played the first season he was here; Kai Horstmann hardly played the first season of his stint.

“Sometimes it takes a little bit of time to settle in, get into the rhythm of everything, especially when you come from another country, get into the rhythm of the Prem, and how our season runs, etc.

“And then you can kind of get to the end of the year and be a little bit disappointed. But then you have a great pre-season, and all of a sudden, you start the next year as the number one.

“That’s happened to numerous players here, and it wouldn’t surprise me if Julian’s not in that same scenario where he’s starting to kind of click and getting used to how it works. He’s a young guy. I think he’s only going to get better.”