Exeter have signed Highlanders ace Jason Shoemark but he will not arrive in England until November © Getty Images

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Exeter

Last season: Championship winners
Captain: Tommy Hayes
Coach: Rob Baxter

Ins: There's no big name to make their rivals sit up and take notice of the new boys although Exeter were not helped in the recruitment stakes by having to wait until their place in the Premiership was secured. By mid-May all the juicy pickings had gone. The Chiefs' noisy fans will also have to wait for the biggest name to take up residence because Highlanders' centre Jason Shoemark does not arrive until November. Ironically, considering that Bristol plundered Exeter relentlessly in recent season, two players, fullback Luke Arscott and hooker James Phillips, are making their way down the M5. Wing Andrew Higgins is another ex-Bristol player to grab a new chance of Premiership rugby, though his route has taken him via an unhappy spell at Bath and a year off in Paris where he worked in an organic restaurant. Higgins, a one-time potential England player, has a point to prove having left Bath in the controversy over a missed drugs test in May 2009. Another Bath player to find himself at Sandy Park is outside-half Ryan Davis, who always flattered to deceive at the Rec.

Outs: None of the main men in the Championship-winning squad have departed other than centre Matt Cornwell who has gone to Northampton. Bristol have claimed two fringe players in full-back Sean Marsden and scrum-half Richard Bolt. The well-travelled Clive Stuart-Smith, who had hopes of England when at Leeds and Worcester, has now joined Esher in the Championship.

Coach: Rob Baxter is the rugby brains behind the success of Exeter and his meticulous planning of the Championship play-off left Bristol well and truly outgunned. He will now hope that the likes of Gareth Steenson, the outside-half who left Ulster to avoid the Humphreys brothers, retains his pin-sharp form in the top flight. Baxter has good back up among his assistants. After the win over Bristol, he was quick to pay tribute to the work of ex-Northampton fly half Ali Hepher who is making his mark as a backs coach. "The roller coaster is climbing the hill and we are all getting ready for the ride," is how Baxter describes the journey ahead. Life in the Premiership starts at home to Gloucester on September 5.

Prediction: They will be well organised and no push over, but they will do well to survive. Baxter and Co. will be delirious if they finish 11th.