TONY Rowe believes Exeter Chiefs' winning start to the Aviva Premiership will produce massive benefits for the club.

The Sandy Park chief executive thinks the club will sell more season tickets and advertising packages as a result of the 22-10 defeat of Gloucester on Saturday.

And he believes the club's crowds will grow during the campaign after 9,562 watched the Chiefs' first match in the top flight. Most observers have tipped Exeter to be relegated at the end of the season, but Rowe reckons Saturday's result and performance will give people confidence in the club's chances of success.

"There has been an element of people who don't believe we are capable of holding on to our place in the Premiership," said Rowe.

"If nothing else we showed on Saturday we are committed to it. The guys played extremely well and you can't take that away from them.

"Interestingly I think that over the next week we will see an increase in the number of season tickets being shifted. People who weren't too sure how we would do will now see what we are capable of.

"There will also be more of a take up of advertising, there's no doubt. It has surprised me just how much media coverage you get, it has gone up 10-fold.

"From a marketing and advertising point of view people will see how well we did and how much coverage we have had and want to come on board."

While it was hoped a capacity crowd of 10,744 would watch Exeter's first game in the top flight, Rowe said he was pleased with the turnout.

With Exeter City attracting a crowd of more than 5,700 for their home game with Charlton on Saturday, the rugby club supremo felt it was a decent crowd for the Chiefs.

"I was over the moon, especially considering City were home as well," Rowe said of the crowd.

"I believe we will grow our fan-base as the season goes on. When we moved to Sandy Park from the County Ground we had an average crowd of 1,800 and it has grown each year.

"We had about 3,500 Gloucester supporters here, which was fantastic to see, and that means we still had around 6,000 Exeter supporters, which we can build on.

"What we have got to do, even if we don't win, is put in a good performance and give a creditable display of ourselves.

"The fans don't expect us to win every game, but they do want to see us doing our best."

Rowe hopes people from across the region will get behind the Chiefs as they look to establish their top flight status.

"We're representing the Westcountry," he said. "Our academy is based in Devon and Cornwall, our academy boys come from both counties and I believe both counties should get behind Exeter Chiefs.

"People have said for a long time the Westcountry is a hotbed of rugby and now we need to prove it."