Jack Nowell flew home from France pleading with Exeter boss Rob Baxter not to let it end this way.
A seven-try stuffing by the La Rochelle club he joins this summer could well be the final playing memory the England star has of his 14 years at Chiefs.
His time at Sandy Park has coincided with Exeter’s golden era, bringing one European Cup, two Premiership titles and six Twickenham finals. The prospect of Sunday’s 47-28 Champions Cup semi-final drubbing in Bordeaux being his sign off fills him with horror.
Exeter have a final league game at London Irish on Saturday and the England star said: “I don’t want to finish my Chiefs career feeling like I do now.
“I am not sure what the coaches are going to be doing with the team but I very much hope I am involved just so I can go out on a high. I certainly don’t want to go out finishing like that.
“This club has been everything to me, it’s all I know. I came to Exeter at 16 as a young kid and I will be leaving with three children and a wife! It’s been unbelievable for me and my family.”
Nowell describes weighing up whether to join the Exeter player exodus overseas as “one of the hardest positions I have ever been in”, but is honest enough to admit there was a financial consideration.
“There comes a time when wage does come into it,” he said. “During the Covid times the club decided to look after us and our families.
“A lot of the other clubs got hit during Covid and we are being hit now. I love everything about the club but I have got to look after my family."
Whatever he goes on to achieve Nowell will always be synonymous with Exeter. Son of a Cornish trawlerman, buccaneering wing with a body full of tattoos - “it’s what fisherman used to do” - the 30-year old has been central to their greatest times.
“Winning the Heineken Cup (in 2020) was special and obviously we won the Premiership title that year as well which was cool,” he recalled.
“But my main memory is winning the Premiership for the first time (2017) and the way we did it. The belief we had in the team that year. That was the first proper trophy we’d won for the club and that’s a memory that I’ll never forget.”
Nowell was joining up with the Lions the following day to go on tour to New Zealand, but he could not miss the celebrations.
He jumped on the team bus back to Exeter, partied hard then paid a taxi £463 for a dawn dash back to London.
Six years on his wish is for one final trip to the capital with his beloved Chiefs.
