Exeter handed major injury boost but 'prognosis isn't great' for duo

Exeter Chiefs boss Rob Baxter admits, ahead of his comeback from a shoulder injury against struggling Gloucester at Kingsholm this weekend, that Wallaby superstar Len Ikitau needs to quickly get up to speed.

Baxter is ready at Kingsholm on Sunday afternoon to unleash the outside centre, who has been out of action since getting injured against Saracens before Christmas and has only played five times since arriving on a one-year deal last year.

And it will be a timely boost for the Chiefs, who are chasing Gallagher PREM and European Challenge Cup, but saw the gap between them and fifth-placed Bristol Bears cut to just four points after last weekend’s 28-35 defeat to Northampton Saints.

“Len is fully fit now, fully in training. He is obviously a very, very good player, a world-class player, isn’t he? The challenge for him is going to be how quickly he can get up to speed with limited game time.

“Obviously, this time of the year, you get fit, and you get to play PREM rugby. So hopefully he’ll get himself up to speed pretty quickly. He’s a very professional guy and has trained very well the last couple of weeks. Having him involved is a bonus for us,” he said.

Fixture

Gallagher Premiership

Gloucester

07:30

26 Apr 26

Exeter Chiefs

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Baxter, who has got Josh Iosefa-Scott, Will Goodrick-Clarke and Ben Hammersley back in full training, admits they are still waiting to see how long hooker Jack Yeandle and full-back Olly Woodburn will be out of action for.

“The prognosis isn’t great for either of them as regards this week. Jack had a scan on his foot this morning, so we’re waiting on the results. The surgeon needs to review the scans, and we’ll know exactly what’s going on, but it’s very swollen today.

“So that doesn’t look good. Olly’s hamstring is not too bad initially, but obviously, we need to get into the early stages of treatment to see how quickly we can turn him around from that one, but it doesn’t look as bad,” he added.

Baxter says that his options for cover at full-back include Will Hayden-Wood or moving Campbell Ridl, which would solve one of his problems in getting him, Paul Brown-Bampoe, and Manny Feyi-Waboso all into the team.

“The exciting thing is if we decide to go with the Campbell option, that means you have Manny and Paul Brown-Bampoe all there as well. If we decide to go Will Haydon, you would get that guaranteed second receiver who’s played 10.

“So there are exciting options, whichever way we go as well. They’re not all negatives. I try to look at all the positives we can do if we involve other people, and I think that’s what we’ll see,” he added.