{"id":788676,"date":"2026-10-01T15:38:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T15:38:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/788676\/"},"modified":"2026-10-01T15:38:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T15:38:08","slug":"team-news-wyatt-returns-to-prem-action-for-chiefs-exeter-chiefs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/788676\/","title":{"rendered":"Team news: Wyatt returns to PREM action for Chiefs | Exeter Chiefs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"bodyRG mb-2\" data-sanity-edit-target=\"block:da8f91f39a0e\">Tommy Wyatt will play his first Gallagher PREM match since May 2025 as he is named on the wing for Exeter Chiefs\u2019 round two trip to the Recreation Ground to face Bath Rugby.<\/p>\n<p class=\"bodyRG mb-2\" data-sanity-edit-target=\"block:ced04206709f\">Wyatt was ruled out for nearly 16 months following a second ACL injury but returned to fitness in this season\u2019s pre-season friendlies.<\/p>\n<p class=\"bodyRG mb-2\" data-sanity-edit-target=\"block:b7520872325d\">Georgian international Bachuki Tchumbadze also returns to Chiefs colours on the bench. Sam Wolstehnholme is included in the 23, one week on from being ruled out due to illness the day before Chiefs\u2019 season opener.<\/p>\n<p class=\"bodyRG mb-2\" data-sanity-edit-target=\"block:a4e13bf007b3\">Chiefs\u2019 director of rugby Rob Baxter said: \u201cBath away is one of the biggest challenges in the Prem. Making sure we\u2019ve got a focus on just staying in the moment, sticking to our processes, is going to be more important this week than ever. We\u2019ve got to turn up and stay in the fight.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"bodyRG mb-2\" data-sanity-edit-target=\"block:382cc6e9f727\">The forward pack remains intact after a frustrating outing against Gloucester Rugby at Sandy Park last weekend.<\/p>\n<p class=\"bodyRG mb-2\" data-sanity-edit-target=\"block:65aa621771d3\">Ethan Burger and Josh Iosefa-Scott pack down at loosehead and tighthead with hooker Jack Yeandle between the two. Captain Dafydd Jenkins mans the boiler room with Harry Wilson while the combative trio of Ethan Roots, Kane James and Greg Fisilau form the back-row.<\/p>\n<p class=\"bodyRG mb-2\" data-sanity-edit-target=\"block:813ee2c12dae\">The scrum-half and fly-half pairing is occupied by Stephen Varney and Harvey Skinner while behind them in the centre field, Will Butt prepares to return to his former club as the opposition for the first time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"bodyRG mb-2\" data-sanity-edit-target=\"block:64ee9b36b3e8\">Henry Slade partners up with Butt as Ben Hammersley makes way for Wyatt\u2019s return to reshuffle the back-three. Olly Woodburn moves to full-back to accommodate Immanuel Feyi-Waboso remaining on the right wing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"bodyRG mb-2\" data-sanity-edit-target=\"block:e1c304d872b2\">Baxter added: \u201cThere are a lot of reasons for Bath to feel they have something to prove on Friday night, but I\u2019d like to think we feel we have things to prove too. We feel we underperformed last weekend, so we\u2019ve got to show the type of team we want to be.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"bodyRG mb-2\" data-sanity-edit-target=\"block:787a0d43897b\">Having scored a try on his league debut last weekend, Louie Gulley retains his position on the bench. Tchumbadze joins the young hooker and Will Goodrick-Clarke to complete the replacement front-row.<\/p>\n<p class=\"bodyRG mb-2\" data-sanity-edit-target=\"block:bbe5707c95d0\">Gulley\u2019s fellow debutant Oscar Beckerleg is also named with Finn Worley Brady, who was a last-minute call-up in round one when illness ruled out fellow EURFC graduate, Joe Bailey.<\/p>\n<p class=\"bodyRG mb-2\" data-sanity-edit-target=\"block:016204c10db4\">Wolstenholme leads the backline cover with Will Haydon-Wood and Zack Wimbush possessing the ability to cover centres, wing and full-back.<\/p>\n<p class=\"bodyRG mb-2\" data-sanity-edit-target=\"block:aee4ceb261f8\">The game kicks off under the floodlights at 19:45 on Friday evening in Bath. Live updates will be available <a target=\"_self\" class=\"text-chiefs-blue hover:text-chiefs-lightblue underline\" data-sanity-edit-target=\"mark:68b17350c7b9\" href=\"https:\/\/www.exeterchiefs.co.uk\/match-center\/bath-v-chiefs-oct-2\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">from our match centre<\/a>. The match will also be broadcast live on TNT Sports.<\/p>\n<p class=\"bodyRG mb-2\" data-sanity-edit-target=\"block:841e49dd9037\">Exeter Chiefs:<\/p>\n<p class=\"bodyRG mb-2\" data-sanity-edit-target=\"block:02545670331f\">15 Olly Woodburn<\/p>\n<p class=\"bodyRG mb-2\" data-sanity-edit-target=\"block:908d1c1bc51b\">14 Immanuel Feyi-Waboso<\/p>\n<p class=\"bodyRG mb-2\" data-sanity-edit-target=\"block:a10e69ba5026\">13 Henry Slade<\/p>\n<p class=\"bodyRG mb-2\" data-sanity-edit-target=\"block:aa7bf490f222\">12 Will Butt<\/p>\n<p class=\"bodyRG mb-2\" data-sanity-edit-target=\"block:72d60ffd6223\">11 Tommy Wyatt<\/p>\n<p class=\"bodyRG mb-2\" data-sanity-edit-target=\"block:f2466aa16858\">10 Harvey Skinner<\/p>\n<p class=\"bodyRG mb-2\" data-sanity-edit-target=\"block:a4b2d996e751\">9 Stephen Varney<\/p>\n<p class=\"bodyRG mb-2\" data-sanity-edit-target=\"block:9cbbaa6e7e6a\">1 Ethan Burger<\/p>\n<p class=\"bodyRG mb-2\" data-sanity-edit-target=\"block:f6364f85fd36\">2 Jack Yeandle<\/p>\n<p class=\"bodyRG mb-2\" data-sanity-edit-target=\"block:ce7fe0a684fe\">3 Josh Iosefa-Scott<\/p>\n<p class=\"bodyRG mb-2\" data-sanity-edit-target=\"block:bcacc3e3e14f\">4 Harry Wilson<\/p>\n<p class=\"bodyRG mb-2\" data-sanity-edit-target=\"block:caf933018a8e\">5 Dafydd Jenkins (c)<\/p>\n<p class=\"bodyRG mb-2\" data-sanity-edit-target=\"block:fe3d633f9510\">6 Ethan Roots<\/p>\n<p class=\"bodyRG mb-2\" data-sanity-edit-target=\"block:efc90e1bf4fd\">7 Kane James<\/p>\n<p class=\"bodyRG mb-2\" data-sanity-edit-target=\"block:3659ff8d0144\">8 Greg Fisilau<\/p>\n<p class=\"bodyRG mb-2\" data-sanity-edit-target=\"block:d0d4a94ee034\">Replacements:<\/p>\n<p class=\"bodyRG mb-2\" data-sanity-edit-target=\"block:d943409c2f89\">16 Louie Gulley<\/p>\n<p class=\"bodyRG mb-2\" data-sanity-edit-target=\"block:bc96d218578d\">17 Will Goodrick-Clarke<\/p>\n<p class=\"bodyRG mb-2\" data-sanity-edit-target=\"block:836c37b8f6f0\">18 Bachuki Tchumbadze<\/p>\n<p class=\"bodyRG mb-2\" data-sanity-edit-target=\"block:dbfeb25168a1\">19 Oscar Beckerleg<\/p>\n<p class=\"bodyRG mb-2\" data-sanity-edit-target=\"block:24b96feb7308\">20 Finn Worley Brady<\/p>\n<p class=\"bodyRG mb-2\" data-sanity-edit-target=\"block:76b3e665f6bf\">21 Sam Wolstenholme<\/p>\n<p class=\"bodyRG mb-2\" data-sanity-edit-target=\"block:6753470c2e47\">22 Will Haydon-Wood<\/p>\n<p class=\"bodyRG mb-2\" data-sanity-edit-target=\"block:a627d0a4a6e0\">23 Zack Wimbush<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tommy Wyatt will play his first Gallagher PREM match since May 2025 as he is named on the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":788677,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-788676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/788676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=788676"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/788676\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/788677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=788676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=788676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=788676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}