Exeter in battle to stop another player joining exodus to Newcastle

Exeter Chiefs have already lost three players to Newcastle Red Bulls, and they are locked in a bidding war over a fourth, Will Haydon-Wood, who started his career in the North-East.

In the last couple of months, the former England U20 international, who joined the Chiefs from French minnows RC Massy, has displayed his versatility, playing fly-half, inside centre and full-back.

Haydon-Wood, who has turned down runaway Champ leaders Ealing Trailfinders because he wants to stay in the Gallagher PREM, spoke to the Red Bulls before Christmas and has since had talks with his current employers.

Outside centre Will Rigg, earlier this week, became the latest member of the Chiefs squad to be announced as making the long trek to Newcastle this summer, following on from team-mates full-back Josh Hodge and lock Rusi Tuima.

But Chiefs boss Rob Baxter is relaxed about the number of his players jumping ship to the Red Bulls, but is quick to identify one area that he thinks will see the PREM’s basement dwellers pull away from the pack.

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“We are not going to keep everybody who is here. There will be other players leaving, but others will come in. That’s what happens season by season. I’m comfortable with how the squad is looking.

“It’s good for the PREM to have clubs, being very, very competitive overall. You know, it’s like anything in my job would I’d love to say, oh, there’s always going to be some guaranteed points because some other team’s a bit weaker.

“Of course they would, because my job is to win games of rugby. I think ultimately the bit I find is going to be interesting about Red Bull and probably a little bit scary is the work on infrastructure. And what you can do with a really good budget.

“It’s great to have money to spend on players here and now, and ultimately, once you start producing on the pipeline and of real good quality.

“That’s when it becomes dangerous. And that would be the interesting thing with Newcastle. I don’t know what budgets they’re putting into backroom facilities, medical facilities, physio, S&C (strength and conditioning)

“The pathway coaching, you know, those are the investments that can reap rewards down the line. You know, you really invest in your Pathway coaching from kind of 12-year-olds all the way through.

“You can make massive strides when those guys, you start to come through into senior rugby. That kind of investment will have to wait to see how long that takes to pay off.

“But if they get it right, then without doubt, they can certainly put practises in place that some of us will struggle to keep up with,” Baxter told RugbyPass.