Exeter returned to Twickenham for the first time in five years as they aim for a new era of dominance in the English game.
Between 2016 and 2021 they reached every Twickenham showpiece, winning in 2017 and 2020, as they consistently ended the regular season either first or second in the table.
But a combination of Covid-19 era cutbacks and a group of star players wanting new challenges led to a regeneration of the playing squad.
A run of seventh-placed finishes followed before last season’s troubles – a club-record 79-17 loss at Gloucester in April saw long-serving coaches leave and a serious rethink at Sandy Park.
With that background Baxter says this season’s turnaround is one of his greatest achievements in his 17 years at the helm of the club.
“When you work with lads who’ve worked as hard as our guys have, it really rekindles your love for the game and has for me and it has for a lot of supporters,” he said.
“They’ve probably changed the mindset of us as a club and where we were heading more than any other group of players we’ve probably ever had in a lot of ways.
“Although we’ve had success in the past and we’ve had some forward progress, and we’ve come through from the fourth tier of rugby and got a couple of promotions, then worked very hard in the Championship, then got promoted, the reality is we kept growing there so it was easy to go with the momentum as a club and just follow it and just be part of it and grow with it.
“We had a proper slap in the face last year and that, rightly or wrongly, made a lot of people you see around the place doubt where the club is heading.
“These lads have flipped that on its head because I don’t think anybody can be more proud of what they’ve achieved this season and what they’ve done.
“That takes a lot of doing and that’s the biggest thing that’s come out of this season.”