This is the sort of update that changes the mood around a cup week immediately. Paul Brown-Bampoe is back in full training and fully available for Exeter Chiefs ahead of Bath Rugby's visit, which matters because Exeter have spent the early part of the 2026/27 campaign leaning on a squad that has been patched together by injury, international duty and plain old availability.
Rob Baxter did not dress it up. Brown-Bampoe had heel surgery during the summer, missed the start of the season and was one of several players Exeter have had to do without, alongside Campbell Ridl and Tommy Wyatt. But the winger is now through the markers, back in the group and ready to be picked, which gives Exeter at least one genuine selection lift before a Bath Rugby game that is shaping up to be very different from the usual full-strength league occasion.
A changed-up squad was always coming
Baxter made it clear this will be a “very much changed-up squad”, and that is not a warning so much as a statement of fact. Exeter are planning to use a mixture of squad players who have not played much rugby in the first five or six weeks of the season, senior men who have not yet had a great deal of action, and younger players who have been on loan and are now coming back into the fold. That is the reality of the PREM Rugby Cup: it is part development, part damage limitation, part opportunity.
Brown-Bampoe’s return is important because it gives Exeter another live option in the back three, and not just in a token sense. He has gone from being sidelined to being fully available, which is a far better position than Exeter have been in for much of the opening block. In a game like this, where the squad is being rotated and the balance has to be carefully managed, that matters.
There is also a broader point here. Exeter are not suddenly pretending everything is fixed. Dafydd Jenkins and Tom Hooper have gone into camp with Wales and Australia respectively, and Baxter has already said their assessment has passed to those international teams. Before training on Thursday, he also made it plain that checks had shown both were still a little way off playing. So while Brown-Bampoe is back, the overall picture remains one of careful management rather than celebration.
That is especially true with Hooper, who fractured during the summer and is being eased back deliberately. Baxter said there is no rush to put him on the field and that Exeter are slowly building up his training time, with the expectation that he will be available sometime during the Prem Cup period, whether that turns out to be week two or week three of this block. It is sensible management, but it also tells you where Exeter are right now: they are building rather than simply selecting.
Dallas McLeod adds another layer to that picture. He has arrived in England after helping Canterbury win the NPC in New Zealand, but Baxter has made it clear he is not being rushed either. That fits the tone of the week. Exeter are not forcing anything. They are piecing together a side, trying to get minutes into players who need them and hoping the returnees stay on course.
So yes, Brown-Bampoe being back is a genuine positive. It does not solve everything, and it certainly does not disguise the fact that Exeter are still managing absences and returns all over the place. But in a changed squad, every bit of pace, experience and availability counts. For Exeter Chiefs, that is the good news before Bath Rugby. The rest is still a work in progress.
