Vermeulen moved to Exeter from then-Super Rugby side Sharks and has gone on to play more than 100 games for the club.

He has been seen as one of the most consistent back-rows in the Premiership, although his time at Exeter has been punctuated by injuries.

He is one of the last remaining players at the club to have tasted title success, with Exeter’s downward spiral since seeing them finish seventh for three seasons in a row before this year’s club-worst ninth-placed finish.

“It’s been really frustrating,” he explains.

“You go through three years where you play every year in finals and you create such good friendships.

“Then you go through one off-season and you basically lose half your mates and all the guys that you basically played with for the last three years.

“You get like a whole bunch of new lads in, then it’s quite tough because at Exeter and the university you’ve got a lot of young lads, it’s quite hard to connect with them.

“They’re all good lads, but they’ve got a lot to learn in a rugby sense, how to win games, how to knuckle down on what areas you need to be good at.

“I think that will come for them, but I just thought like when I made the decision ‘these lads need to write their own stories’.”

In an ironic twist of fate Vermeulen’s final Exeter appearance on Saturday will be against his new employers.

Sale need a win to ensure they get into the play-offs for a third successive season.

But Vermeulen says there is no way he will go easy on his future teammates.

“I need to earn their respect now, and I think that’s it starts on Saturday and the way I play, that’s the only way I’m going to earn their respect.

“I’ll be flying into them on Saturday, so I can only try my best.

“But it comes down to earning their respect so I’ll just have to go full blaze into it and give it my best shot.”