Northampton Saints v Exeter Chiefs team news: Immanuel Feyi-Waboso makes first start in 9 months | Devon Live

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Exeter Chiefs head to Franklin's Gardens to take on Northampton Saints on Sunday in Round One of the 2025/26 Gallagher looking to banish the demons of last season's campaign.

Rob Baxter's side are boosted by the return of star England winger Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, who makes his first start for the club since December following shoulder surgery, while Welsh lock Dafydd Jenkins and England A number eight Greg Fisilau are deemed fit enough to be named amongst the replacements having both recovered from operations in the off-season.

Looking ahead to the trip to Franklin's Gardens, Chiefs director of rugby Rob Baxter said: "Northampton pose challenges everywhere really. Watching them in pre-season, they were very strong set-piece-wise. They really got over the game away to Saracens in the PREM Cup. Especially once they got in good field position, based around the pressure they put Saracens under. Saracens conceded penalties, gave them easy field position and Saints were stronger around the maul and the scrum and that created a lot of that pressure as well.

Watching them through last season, right up to the Champions Cup final, you can see they're a dangerous side in a lot of ways. They've got some great backs, but I know they'll be limited with the selection available due to the Lions players being rested.

"What we've really got to do, a little bit like we did in our early days in the Premiership, is talk about ourselves and what we want to get out of things game by game. What do we want to get out of away games? How do you we to approach them? What are the pathways for giving us the best opportunity to win the game? Those are the things we've got to follow. If we follow those, you know, we give ourselves an opportunity to win."

Northampton Saints: 15 George Hendy, 14 Edoardo Todaro, 13 Tom Litchfield, 12 Fraser Dingwall (c), 11 James Ramm, 10 Anthony Belleau, 9 Archie McParland; 1 Emmanuel Iyogun, 2 Craig Wright, 3 Trevor Davison, 4 Alex Coles, 5 Ed Prowse, 6 Angus Scott-Young, 7 Tom Pearson, 8 Callum Chick

Replacements: 16 Henry Walker, 17 Danilo Fischetti, 18 Elliot Millar Mills, 19 JJ Van Der Mesch, 20 Sam Graham, 21 Jonny Weimann, 22 Rory Hutchinson, 23 Toby Thame

Not considered for selection: Emeka Atuanya, Amena Caqusau, Tommy Freeman, George Furbank, Tom James, Josh Kemeny, Curtis Langdon, Tom Lockett, Alex Mitchell, Chunya Munga, Henry Pollock, Charlie Ulcoq, Ollie Sleightholme, Fin Smith and Tom West.

Exeter Chiefs: 15 Josh Hodge, 14 Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Ben Hammersley, 11 Paul Brown-Bampoe, 10 Harvey Skinner, 9 Stephen Varney, 1 Will Goodrick-Clarke, 2 Joseph Dweba, 3 Josh Iosefa-Scott, 4 Rusi Tuima, 5 Lewis Pearson, 6 Christ Tshiunza, 7 Ethan Roots (c), 8 Ross Vintcent

Replacements: 16 Jack Yeandle, 17 Kwenzo Blose, 18 Bachuki Tchumbadze, 19 Dafydd Jenkins, 20 Greg Fisilau, 21 Charlie Chapman, 22 Nick Lilley, 23 Kane James