Exeter winger Campbell Ridl to miss majority of season after knee ligament injury

Exeter winger Campbell Ridl will miss most of the season after suffering a knee ligament injury in the club’s opening pre-season game against Scarlets earlier this month, director of rugby Rob Baxter told BBC Sport on 17 September 2026.

Ridl, 21, had been one of Exeter’s breakout players last season, scoring 17 tries in 24 games and touching down in the Premiership final loss to Northampton Saints at Twickenham. He is an England Under-20 international. Exeter have also been hit by the absence of Italy lock Andrea Zambonin, who will be sidelined until November with a shoulder problem.

Baxter described the knee damage in detail: "It's a pretty significant knee injury, it's ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) with bits and pieces, which looks like cartilage damage as well." On the expected recovery timeline he added: "You're talking majority of the season. Good ones can recover pretty quickly and a really fast rehab can be around six months, and then you talk anything up to the nine-month period and beyond if there's more complications."

The director of rugby was specific about the prognosis for Ridl: "I don't think it's going to be a six-month one because of the other bits that have also been damaged in the knee, so unfortunately for Campbell it's going to be relatively long-term this season."

Ridl sustained the injury as he slowed to get a pass away in the pre-season fixture rather than in contact; he attempted to continue but was forced to leave the field a few minutes later. The incident occurred in Exeter's opening pre-season game, the same match in which they lost to the Welsh side Scarlets.

Last season Ridl produced a string of notable finishes for Exeter, including consecutive hat-tricks in Premiership Rugby Cup matches in February and a run of six tries in six Premiership games between mid-March and mid-May. It is a blow for a player who was seen as one of the brightest prospects in English rugby last season.

Baxter also outlined potential positives during Ridl’s rehabilitation, saying: "But having it at a time when he's played his first decent amount of adult rugby in a proper, tough, long season... now he's got that opportunity to really work on his physical development because obviously the challenges of being ready to play games every weekend are not going to be there. "There's a good deal of physical development he'll be able to do while he's recovering from injury. "He's also at university and deep in studies, so you've got to try to look at the positives of these things. "If it gives him a period of really good development, getting on top of university studies, getting things really in line for next season then you've got to try and look at this as part of the development process he's going to go through over the next five or six years of his career."

Ridl’s recovery is expected to occupy the majority of the coming season, with Baxter warning the timeframe could extend beyond six months because of additional knee damage; Exeter will also be without Andrea Zambonin until November while he recovers from a shoulder problem.