'Absolutely no reason': Rob Baxter addresses Joseph Dweba discontent rumours

Rob Baxter has dismissed suggestions that former Springbok hooker Joseph Dweba is struggling to settle at Exeter Chiefs with his family still living in South Africa.

Dweba, 30, has scored five tries in 15 appearances for the Chiefs since he arrived from the Stormers last summer, but hasn’t played for the club since their PREM Cup final defeat at the hands of Leicester Tigers two weeks ago.

Club skipper Jack Yeandle starts in the middle of the front row at Newcastle Red Bulls tomorrow night, with Julian Heaven on the replacements bench, with Dweba out in the cold like he was for the win over Sale Sharks last weekend.

Whispers that the former Cheetahs and Bordeaux star is unsettled have been gathering momentum, but Baxter has moved quickly to try to dispel them.

“This is the kind of thing that happens when a player plays and then maybe isn’t in the team the next week. I’ve sat down with Joseph a couple of times over the last couple of weeks, just chatting things through. How are things going?

“I think he misses his family without a doubt. But the plan is that they’ll be over here shortly now. I think they’re coming over this summer. So, there’s absolutely no reason for him not to be settled in more than he is now.

“I think he’s fitted in really well. It’s clearly not easy. We gave him some additional time, obviously, to make it worth travelling back to South Africa, spending time with his family.

“He got held up, not being able to fly back through the Middle East, because of all the bits and pieces that happened. But, you know, those issues will happen every now and again, but I think Joseph’s handled it really well.

“He’s been very professional about things and how he has to get on with stuff. So, no, he’s dealing with it as best he can. I can only see things improving in that realm, not getting worse,” said Baxter.

The Chiefs’ director of rugby says that Dweba is one of the players who has helped the club improve on last season’s disaster and he has backed him to break back into the side.

“I think he’s been one of the factors in improving large parts of how we played over the season. I think without doubt, I think Joe knows he was a bit off the pace in the PREM Cup final.

“Ideally, we would have picked him the week before and maybe given him a couple of games, but the travel disruption meant that obviously he came into that game after a period of not just disrupted playing time, but disrupted training time.

“But he’s back on it now, he’s working hard, doing lots of extras. He’s going to get sharp again, and he’ll be back in the side relatively quickly,” Baxter told RugbyPass.