Exeter Chiefs back Dan John has re-signed with the club to continue at Sandy Park

A former Welsh age-grade international, John is an exciting prospect amongst the Chiefs ranks, just looking for an injury-free run to truly impose himself on games in the Exeter shirt.

“It feels brilliant to be staying at the club,” John said. “I’m really excited to enjoy another season with the boys, and it’s a pleasure to re-sign with such a great club.

“I’ve spent a lot of years here now, so I’m delighted to stay. It’s nice to see that other boys are sticking around as well, especially around about my age as we’re looking to really build on this group to be able to push on in the next couple of seasons.”

Joining the Chiefs Academy from Millfield School ahead of the 2020/21 season, John was recruited by the Chiefs coaching staff as a highly talented youngster looking to carve an exciting career in the sport.

With a strong boot on him, John can adapt to playing at wing, full-back or centre. His real love for the game began to manifest while living in Hong Kong with his family, including his father Paul who formerly coached at Cardiff and Pontypridd.

The 23-year-old represented Wales at age-grade level before being handed his top-flight debut for Chiefs in 2021. The youngster already has a trophy in the cabinet with Chiefs, having started in the 2022/23 Premiership Rugby Cup final win over London Irish.

Chiefs Director of Rugby Rob Baxter believes the young back has a lot of big performances to come in an Exeter shirt.

“It’s great to have Dan staying at Chiefs,” Baxter said. “He’s a guy we spotted playing for Wales at age-grade level when we were actually looking at Dafydd [Jenkins] and Christ [Tshiunza] playing together.

“He stood out to us then and he happened to express an interest in attending the University of Exeter so it was just one of things that all happened to line up. It was great to bring him into our Academy from outside the set-up.

“He thrived while part of the university team [EURFC] and he was one of the guys that won the BUCS competition with them.

“Unfortunately, in the last couple of seasons, he’s had limited game time with us due to picking up a couple of injuries at times when we would have liked to have picked him. He’s getting through and past those issues now though.

“He’s always done well when we’ve selected him, so he’s one of those guys that we would expect to play a bigger part in seasons going forward. He gives us good strength in depth at multiple positions.

“He’s a player who is still improving and we haven’t yet seen him at his prime, so we’re hoping we’ll see him develop all the more over the coming seasons.”