Lewis Pearson: Exeter Chiefs lock urged to keep on improving

Pearson, who has also had a number of spells dual-registered with Champ side Cornish Pirates, made his Exeter debut in the autumn of 2019 and has gone on to play 64 times for the club.

Baxter says Pearson’s experience over the last six-and-a-half years is key as he looks to rebuild a side that had been perennial title challengers.

“Lewis is a home grown player, came through our academy, knows what we’re about, has experienced some highs but importantly has probably experienced some lows as well, and they often define you on how you want to be as a player and a person and how hard you commit to things,” he added.

“I think Lewis has experienced the best and the worst of those kind of things, and coming through those things well.

“What he allows you to do is he allows us to be able to deal with situations when guys like Zambo [Andrea Zambonin] and Daf [Dafydd Jenkins] are away on international duty.

“He comes into the frontline group anyway when we need him to and he’s a player I still would like to keep thinking we can keep improving, and with a little bit of hard work in a few areas can keep improving himself.

“It’s not like he’s just there ‘break glass in case of emergency’, we want him to be far more than that.”