Drewett delight at Nottingham win

Drewett's plans for next season are on hold as Premiership rugby beckons

Exeter Chiefs director of rugby Pete Drewett was full of praise for his side after their 15-14 win at Nottingham.

The win means the Chiefs are now five points behind leaders Leeds with a game in hand as they look to win the title and gain promotion to the Premiership.

"I'm delighted. We showed a lot of character and defended superbly," Drewett told BBC Radio Devon following Sunday's victory at Meadow Lane.

"To win by a point here is a tremendous achievement by the players."

The Chiefs' victory was only the second time Nottingham had lost at home all season, the first being to Leeds back in December.

"Each time we got into their territory we managed to score points which was crucial," added Drewett.

"They're [Nottingham] a tremendous team and are very well coached by Glenn Delaney and his team. I am sure they will cause Leeds problems next week in the cup."

Drewett said it was important that his squad focused on winning at Nottingham, especially knowing that leaders Leeds had lost at Bedford on Saturday.

"We just concentrated on ourselves and what we needed to do here," he said. "We've got the win that we required. If you think too much about the other bits and pieces you can get lost."

And he admitted that the club's plans for next season, which until a few weeks ago had been focused on the inaugural Championship season, have been put on hold as they now have a chance of reaching the top flight.

Drewett added: "We'll have a look at things on Monday, the important thing is to be competitive in this league and that's what we're becoming.

"Obviously a number of decisions may have to be put on hold for a week or two, but this is where we wanted to be. We talked about it in June with the players and now we're in a position to keep working hard, and let's see what happens in the next couple of weeks."