Exeter win, but Sandy Park stays quiet as Baxter vows to bring fans back

Rob Baxter says only winning rugby will bring the crowds back to Sandy Park. His Exeter Chiefs held on for a 34-28 win over Newcastle in front of just 7,071 supporters, according to BBC Sport.

That is less than half of Sandy Park's 15,600 capacity. The club closed its North Terrace for a league fixture for the first time. The crowd was also down on the 8,682 who watched Exeter's 45-24 home defeat by Gloucester earlier this season.

Baxter, Exeter's director of rugby, was blunt about his role in the fix. His job, he said, is to make sure the team performs well and wins games of rugby. Sandy Park felt quiet. He promised he will do what he can to create a side that brings people back.

Exeter cut ticket prices earlier this month ahead of the Newcastle game. Chief executive Tony Rowe says reduced prices will return for more games before Christmas. The next chance to fill the ground comes at home to Harlequins on 31 October in the Prem, England's top division of rugby union.

It is a sharp change for a club that reached six successive Premiership finals from 2016 to 2021 and won the title in 2017 and 2020. Last season brought a club-record worst campaign in the top flight. The club was taken over earlier this year by Black Knight Rugby, part of the same American investment group that owns football club AFC Bournemouth.

For supporters, this is a patience test. The team is winning again. The noise has not yet caught up.