Hepher replaced by Hunter as Exeter head coach

Ali Hepher has been Exeter Chiefs head coach for eight years

Long-serving Exeter Chiefs head coach Ali Hepher has been removed from his role at the Premiership strugglers "with immediate effect" and replaced by Rob Hunter.

Exeter said Hepher will step back to oversee the team's backs and attack strategy until the end of the season, before switching to a role in the club's academy.

Chiefs sit second-bottom of the Premiership table heading into the league's resumption this weekend and also suffered a second-half collapse against Bath in Sunday's Premiership Cup final.

Forwards coach Hunter will step up to take over as head coach from 50-year-old Hepher, who had been in the role since 2017.

Rob Baxter (left) and Ali Hepher both joined Exeter Chiefs in 2009

Ex-Northampton Saints fly-half Hepher arrived at Sandy Park as a coach in 2009 and helped lead Exeter into the top flight and then to their first Premiership title in 2017, before they became both English and European champions three years later.

Rob Baxter, Chiefs director of rugby, said: "I would like to thank Ali for his incredible hard work and dedication to the team and club over the last 16 years.

"We have experienced some lows and enjoyed some incredible highs together and he has been a key part of the successes this club has had.

"I feel now, coming out of the Premiership Rugby Cup period, is the right time for us to start the process of heading in a different direction with elements of our game next season."

Hepher's replacement, ex-London Scottish and Northampton forward Hunter, 52, joined Exeter in 2013 after a successful spell as England Under-20s head coach.

"This is also a huge opportunity for Rob Hunter to organise and run the programme, he has a great appetite for the game and the challenges ahead," Baxter added.

"I feel a fresh burst of ideas and energy, alongside the increased responsibilities he will have, will bring out the best in him and prove successful for the club."

Exeter will bring in a new attack and backs coach at the end of the campaign, with Hepher moving into "a transition coach role with responsibilities for coaching and managing the club's senior academy players".

"I know he [Hepher] is really looking forward to a return to development coaching with our best young players to ensure we get the very best out of our talent pool," Baxter added.

Forwards coach Rob Hunter (left) will step up to take over as head coach from 50-year-old Hepher

'Significant change'

Analysis - BBC Sport's Exeter Chiefs reporter, Brent Pilnick

This is the most significant coaching change at Sandy Park since Rob Baxter took over the side in 2009.

His first coaching hire was Hepher and the former Northampton fly-half - who helped Saints win the 2000 Heineken Cup - has been integral ever since.

But while Hepher has helped deliver the good times at Exeter, the past year has been by far their worst since promotion to the top flight in 2010.

Just two wins in Europe and the Premiership all season has seen a club that made six successive Premiership finals and won a league and European double in 2020 become a pale shadow of their former selves.

The fact that he will stay with the club in an academy role next season might be down to sentiment, or it may be that the club simply cannot afford to pay off a coach that signed a "long-term" deal alongside Baxter, Hunter and skills coach Ricky Pellow a couple of years ago.

Whatever the future for Exeter's coaching staff it was clear that something had to change - whether this move will be enough only time will tell.