Exeter boss Rob Baxter says his side's set of backs have the potential to be the best-ever at the club.
Exeter boss Rob Baxter says his side's set of backs have the potential to be the best-ever at the club.
Australia centre Len Ikitau has linked up with the Chiefs after the Rugby Championship and should be available next week.
He will add to an exciting set of three-quarters that includes England internationals Henry Slade and Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, as well as highly-rated 23-year-old winger Paul Brown-Bampoe.
"They've got the potential to be as good as any combo we've put together, when you actually look at it on paper," said Baxter, who has led Exeter to two Premiership titles and the 2020 European Champions Cup.
"All the best combinations we've ever spoken about, they've all been part of great teams, haven't they?
"The proof of the pudding for these four or five lads in the back line, whether they become a great combination, will be based on whether we become a great team or not.
"We'll never really see the best of them if our pack of forwards doesn't stand up or if we start to lose our way in our decision-making process around nine and 10 - all of those things have got to stand up for us.
"Without doubt, if the rest of the things we're wanting to achieve happen, they could easily come through as one of the most successful groups we've had."
Ikitau comes into an Exeter side that, after just two games, has already collected more than a quarter of their total points tally last season.
Having staged a remarkable comeback from 33-7 down at half time to draw 33-33 at Northampton, Exeter cruised past Newcastle 38-15 on Saturday.
It leaves Exeter - who recorded just four wins from 18 games last season in finishing second-bottom - third in the early Prem table before a trip to injury-hit Bristol.
"You don't have to be a genius to look at the group we've had there training today and the two games we've had and go 'this just looks better than last season' - you can just see that," added Baxter, who brought in attack coach Dave Walder in May.
"Some of it is personnel, some of it is some of the shifts we've made, some of it has the pre-season.
"But without doubt it's an exciting group to be working with right now. I don't look at the fixture list and have a fear of any fixture, but obviously as they roll around you do go 'this is going to be tough'.
"But that's the exciting thing. I think we're looking at a group at the minute where we can go 'right, we can be competitive every single game we play home and away' and that always starts an exciting season for us."
Category: General Sports
