Exe Men

Winner of the Telegraph Sports Book Awards Rugby Book of the Year Among the best stories in modern British team sport has been the rise of Exeter Chiefs. How, exactly, did an unfashionable rugby team from Devon emerge from obscurity to become the double champions of England and Europe? What makes them tick? What are their secrets? Exe Men is a compelling story of regional pride, fierce rural identity, larger-than-life local heroes, remarkable characters, epic resilience, big city snobbery, geographical separation, steepling ambition and personal sacrifice which will strike a chord with anyone who enjoys a classic underdog story. This is not any old rugby book, it is the inside story of Exeter's incredible journey from the edge of nowhere to the summit of the English and European club game.

Robert Kitson has been The Guardian's rugby union correspondent since 1999 and is one of the UK's most respected sports writers. He has covered seven Rugby World Cups, five British and Irish Lions tours and in excess of 300 Tests worldwide. As well as rugby he was also attended five Olympic Games, worked at multiple football and cricket World Cups, covered cricket tours in Australia, West Indies, India and Pakistan and written pieces on virtually every major sport. He was highly commended in the SJA Sports Journalist of the Year awards in 2016 and was also voted Guinness Rugby Journalist of the Season in 2010.