Paul Rees looks at how Exeter defied the odds to make it to the last four in the Heineken Champions Cup

Exeter are the outliers in the last four of the Heineken Champions Cup. It is not a position they are unfamiliar with, having risen from the nether reaches of the English pyramid to become double champions, but it reflects where the Premiership lies after its ship, already taking on water, was holed by the pandemic.
Toulouse, Leinster and La Rochelle make up the remaining semi-finalists. They all have considerably larger budgets than Exeter. The two French clubs have a salary cap which i...