Don Armand, Alec Hepburn and Mitch Lees sign new deals with Exeter

Exeter have announced that England Saxons trio Don Armand, Alec Hepburn and Mitch Lees have signed fresh deals with the English Premiership club.

All the three players were part of the England Saxons squad that toured South Africa recently. Armand, 27, joined Exeter from Super Rugby club Stormers and has played 44 Premiership games between 2013 and 2016.

Hepburn, 23, was also part of the England Under-20 team and joined the club in 2015 playing 21 Premiership games while lock Lees has played 31 games in the last two years.

Recently, Exeter had also signed three-year fresh deals with England trio, Jack Nowell, Henry Slade and Luke Cowan-Dickie.

Speaking about the latest signing, Exeter head coach Rob Baxter believes the trio will play an important role in shaping the future of the club.

"Mitch and Don had real stand-out seasons last year and they are starting to show that they could be two of the best back-five forwards in the Premiership, and that was shown by them going on the Saxons tour (to South Africa), while Alec has just been getting better and better in his time with us.

"We made a decision to bring him in early to the club and nurse him through some injury rehab, and I think that was a really good decision.

"It allowed him to put some foundation work in, which allowed him to have a good season last year, and I thought he was absolutely fantastic on the Saxons tour, probably one of the stand-out forwards."