Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

Exeter latest on recruitment, 'touch and go' Jenkins/Slade update

Exeter midfielder Henry Slade (Photo by Bob Bradford/CameraSport via Getty Images)

Rob Baxter has explained that a decision on whether or not to retain Martin Moloney, the back row forward released by Leinster at the end of the 2023/24 season, will be reached after his trial period concludes with a start at openside in this Saturday’s pre-season clash with London Scottish.

ADVERTISEMENT

The Chiefs are hosting a Sandy Park double-header with Cornish Pirates also set to visit and Baxter, after naming two separate starting line-ups, insisted that his summer recruitment drive hasn’t ended despite Tuesday’s confirmation of the signings of midfielder Tamati Tua from the Brumbies and loosehead Kwenzo Blose from the Stormers.

Speaking on Wednesday, just days after it was revealed that Wales skipper Dafydd Jenkins had undergone operations to mend shoulder and knee issues, Baxter told the media assembled at the Exeter new-season media day that he was still looking to add his squad.

Video Spacer

Springbok legend Frans Steyn discuss two prodigious talents

Video Player is loading.
Current Time 0:00
Duration 1:23
Loaded: 0%
Stream Type LIVE
Remaining Time 1:23
 
1x
    • Chapters
    • descriptions off, selected
    • captions off, selected
    • en (Main), selected
    Video Spacer

    Springbok legend Frans Steyn discuss two prodigious talents

    WATCH as Springbok legend and Cheetahs boss Frans Steyn discuss the merits of two prodigious talents – Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Damian Willemse.

    “We are looking to bring in a lock because we know now Dafydd is going to be out for a little while and Christ (Tshiunza) also has got a little bit of a sore shoulder, but that kind of now looks less worrying than we thought. It probably leaves us a little bit light in the back five because we have trimmed out squad numbers a bit as well, so we’re looking at a lock.

    “We have got Martin Moloney here on trial, he will be playing this weekend. His trial period finishes after this weekend. We are having a look at him from Leinster to see if he would be a good guy to add to our squad and obviously we are always looking at the young lads coming through and how they are contract wise.

    “A great example, Ben Coen. He came through our academy and took our advice to continue his career at Exeter University. He wanted to go to uni, so that was great. He worked really hard there, broke through into their BUCS team, broke into the England U20s, goes and wins a World Cup at U20s and is now a contracted player at Exeter.

    “Those kind of things are happening all the time. We have never been a team that has said, ‘That is the squad, it’s settled’. For me, recruitment is ongoing every day of the year really and we will continue to work that way.”

    ADVERTISEMENT

    Asked if the sidelined Welsh lock Jenkins and England midfielder Henry Slade, who also underwent shoulder surgery following his summer tour, would be unavailable for their respective teams’ Autumn Nations Series in November, Baxter reckoned: “They are both in slightly different scenarios.

    “They are both really good rehabbers. I wouldn’t want to sit here and write them off for the autumn internationals because that is not right for me to do that.

    “It’s one of those things: once they don’t make the autumn internationals then there is that month period that extends things and then hopefully we will get them back around that period where there is those big Prem games and Champions Cup games around Christmas.

    “I’d like to think there is chance of us having them back in club action by then. Whether they can make autumn internationals, that is the thing that is going to touch and go.”

    ADVERTISEMENT

    Related

    ADVERTISEMENT

    Boks Office | Episode 39 | The Investec Champions Cup is back

    Argentina v France | HSBC SVNS Hong Kong 2025 | Men's Match Highlights

    New Zealand v Australia | HSBC SVNS Hong Kong 2025 | Women's Match Highlights

    Tokyo Sungoliath vs Shizuoka BlueRevs | Japan Rugby League One 2024/25 | Full Match Replay

    Reds vs Force | Super Rugby W 2025 | Full Match Replay

    The Rise of Kenya | The Report

    New Zealand in Hong Kong | Brady Rush | Sevens Wonders | Episode 4

    The Fixture: How This Rugby Rivalry Has Lasted 59 Years

    Trending on RugbyPass

    Comments

    0 Comments
    Be the first to comment...

    Join free and tell us what you really think!

    Sign up for free
    ADVERTISEMENT

    Latest Features

    Comments on RugbyPass

    f
    fl 21 minutes ago
    Why Les Kiss and Stuart Lancaster can lead Australia to glory

    “Pep didn’t win the ECL in 2009. It was 2008 with Barca”

    Why are you so insistent on being wrong? Man United won in 2008 (beating Chelsea in the final). In 2009 Barcelona won, beating United.


    “The gap between wins ignores the finals contested. 2 in 2 years with his City Triumph. The most recent put him in the elite company of managers to have won it with multiple clubs. Yet more late career success and history.”

    Again - you’re not correct. City won the CL in 2023, and made the final in 2021. Those are the only two CL finals they have made. With Barcelona, Pep made the semi final four consecutive times - with City he’s managed only 3 in 8 years. This year they didn’t even make the round of 16.


    To re-cap, you wrote that Pep “has gotten better with age. By every measure.” There are some measures that support what you’re saying, but the vast majority of the measures that you have highlighted actually show the opposite.


    I am aware Les Kiss has achieved great things in his career, but I don’t care what he did over ten years ago. Rugby was a different sport back then.


    I think your take on Gatland is pretty silly. Gatland was without Edwards in the 2013 and 2017 Lions tours and managed to do alright. You’ve also not addressed Eddie Jones.


    I agree wrt Schmidt. He would ideally be retained, but it wouldn’t work to have a remote head coach. He should definitely be hired as a consultant/analyst/selector though.


    “Look at the talent that would be discarded in Schmidt and Kiss if your age Nazism was applied.”

    lol u really need to chill out lad. Kiss and Schmidt would both be great members of the coaching set up in 2025, but it would be ridiculous to bank on either to retain the head coach role until 2031.

    170 Go to comments
    I
    IkeaBoy 1 hour ago
    Why Les Kiss and Stuart Lancaster can lead Australia to glory

    Pep didn’t win the ECL in 2009. It was 2008 with Barca. The gap between wins ignores the finals contested. 2 in 2 years with his City Triumph. The most recent put him in the elite company of managers to have won it with multiple clubs. Yet more late career success and history.


    His time with City - a lower win ratio compared to Bayern Munich as you say - includes a 100 PT season. A feat that will likely never be surpassed. I appreciate you don’t follow soccer too closely but even casual fans refer to the sport in ‘pre and post Pep’ terms and all because of what he has achieved and is continuing to achieve, late career. There is a reason that even U10’s play out from the back now at every level of the game. That’s also a fairly recent development.


    How refreshing to return to rugby on a rugby forum.


    Ireland won a long over due slam in 2009. The last embers of a golden generation was kicked on by a handful of young new players and a new senior coach. Kiss was brought in as defence coach and was the reason they won it. They’d the best defence in the game at the time. He all but invented the choke tackle. Fittingly they backed it up in the next world cup in their 2011 pool match against… Australia. The instantly iconic image of Will Genia getting rag-dolled by Stephen Ferris.


    His career since has even included director of rugby positions. He would have an extremely good idea of where the game is at and where it is going in addition to governance experience and dealings. Not least in Oz were many of the players will have come via or across Rugby League pathways.


    Gatland isn’t a valid coach to compare too. He only ever over-achieved and was barely schools level without Shaun Edwards at club or test level. His return to Wales simply exposed his limitations and a chaotic union. It wasn’t age.


    Schmidt is open to staying involved in a remote capacity which I think deserves more attention. It would be a brain drain to lose him. He stepped in to coach the ABs in the first 2022 test against Ireland when Foster was laid out with Covid. They mullered Ireland 42-19. He was still heavily involved in the RWC 2023 quarter final. Same story.


    Look at the talent that would be discarded in Schmidt and Kiss if your age Nazism was applied.

    170 Go to comments
    f
    fl 2 hours ago
    Why Les Kiss and Stuart Lancaster can lead Australia to glory

    “He won a ECL and a domestic treble at the beginning of his career.”

    He won 2 ECLs at the beginning of his career (2009, 2011). Since then he’s won 1 in 15 years.


    “He then won 3 leagues on the bounce later in his career”

    He won 3 leagues on the bounce at the start of his career too - (2009, 2010, 2011).


    If we’re judging him by champions league wins, he peaked in his late 30s, early 40s. If we’re judging him by domestic titles he’s stayed pretty consistent over his career. If we’re judging him by overall win rate he peaked at Bayern, and was better at Barcelona than at City. So no, he hasn’t gotten better by every measure.


    “You mentioned coaches were older around the mid-2010’s compared to the mid-2000’s. Robson was well above the average age you’ve given for those periods even in the 90’s when in his pomp.”

    Robson was 63-64 when he was at Barcelona, so he wasn’t very old. But yeah, he was slightly above the average age of 60 I gave for the top 4 premier league coaches in 2015, and quite a bit above the averages for 2005 and 2025.


    “Also, comparing coaches - and their experiences, achievements - at different ages is unstable. It’s not a valid way to compare and tends to torpedo your own logic when you do compare them on equal terms. I can see why you don’t like doing it.”

    Well my logic certainly hasn’t been torpedoed. Currently the most successful premier league coaches right now are younger than they were ten years ago. You can throw all the nuance at it that you want, but that fact won’t change. It’s not even clear what comparing managers “on equal terms” would even mean, or why it would be relevant to anything I’ve said.


    “You still haven’t answered why Kiss could be a risker appointment?”

    Because I’ve been talking to you about football managers. If you want to change the subject then great - I care a lot more about rugby than I do football.

    But wrt Kiss, I don’t agree that 25 years experience is actually that useful, given what a different sport rugby was 25 years ago. Obviously in theory more experience can never be a bad thing, but I think 10 years of coaching experience is actually more than enough these days. Erasmus had been a coach for 13 years when he got the SA top job. Andy Farrell had been a coach for 9 when he got the Ireland job. I don’t think anyone would say that either of them were lacking in experience.


    Now - what about coaches who do have 25+ years experience? The clearest example of that would be Eddie Jones, who started coaching 31 years ago. He did pretty well everywhere he worked until around 2021 (when he was 61), when results with England hit a sharp decline. He similarly oversaw a terrible run with Australia, and currently isn’t doing a great job with Japan.

    Another example is Warren Gatland, who also started coaching full-time 31 years ago, after 5 years as a player-coach. Gatland did pretty well everywhere he went until 2020 (when he was 56), when he did a relatively poor job with the Chiefs, before doing a pretty poor job with the Lions, and then overseeing a genuine disaster with Wales. There are very few other examples, as most coaches retire or step back into lesser roles when they enter their 60s. Mick Byrne actually has 34 years experience in coaching (but only 23 years coaching in rugby) and at 66 he’s the oldest coach of a top 10 side, and he’s actually doing really well. He goes to show that you can continue to be a good coach well into your 60s, but he seems like an outlier.


    So the point is - right now, Les Kiss looks like a pretty reliable option, but 5 years ago so did Eddie Jones and Warren Gatland before they went on to prove that coaches often decline as they get older. If Australia want Kiss as a short term appointment to take over after Schmidt leaves in the summer, I don’t think that would be a terrible idea - but NB wanted Kiss as a long term appointment starting in 2027! That’s a massive risk, given the chance that his aptitude will begin to decline.


    Its kind of analagous to how players decline. We know (for example) that a fly-half can still be world class at 38, but we also know that most fly-halves peak in their mid-to-late 20s, so it is generally considered a risk to build your game plan around someone much older than that.

    170 Go to comments
    A
    AlanCriner 2 hours ago
    Ian Foster address injury rumours to key All Black before World Cup final

    My name is Alan Criner, and I'm a resident of Toronto, CA. I'm a 45-year-old financial analyst who has always been cautious with my investments. However, in my quest to diversify my portfolio, I fell prey to a devastating fake crypto investment scam, losing 125,000 Canadian dollars' worth of Bitcoin. This traumatic experience sent my life into a downward spiral, leaving me depressed and feeling hopeless.

    Despite my repeated attempts to contact the account manager who initially approached me on Telegram, I was met with silence. They refused to provide any explanation or information, and I was locked out of my account on their website. The authorities were unable to assist me, as the scammers were untraceable.

    Just when I thought all was lost, my nephew, a Canadian government lawyer, introduced me to Morphohack Cyber Service, a reputable private investigator and crypto recovery company. I visited their website (www . morphohackcyber . com) and, after mustering the courage, contacted them. They listened attentively as I recounted my ordeal and educated me on the scam, revealing that numerous others had fallen victim to the same scheme.

    Although skeptical at first, I decided to take a chance. Morphohack guided me through the process, instructing me to set up a new wallet. To my astonishment, they successfully recovered my stolen Bitcoin and transferred it to my new wallet. I was stunned, struggling to comprehend how this was possible.

    I initially wanted to keep this experience private, but I realized that there may be others out there who have suffered similar losses. If you're a victim of crypto theft, I urge you to reach out to Morphohack Cyber Service. They can be contacted through their website or email. (Morphohack@cyberservices . com, Info@morphohackcyber . com) Don't give up hope, there is a way to recover your stolen crypto assets.

    29 Go to comments
    A
    AlanCriner 2 hours ago
    Exeter look to Charlie Chapman to boost scrum-half options

    My name is Alan Criner, and I'm a resident of Toronto, CA. I'm a 45-year-old financial analyst who has always been cautious with my investments. However, in my quest to diversify my portfolio, I fell prey to a devastating fake crypto investment scam, losing 125,000 Canadian dollars' worth of Bitcoin. This traumatic experience sent my life into a downward spiral, leaving me depressed and feeling hopeless.

    Despite my repeated attempts to contact the account manager who initially approached me on Telegram, I was met with silence. They refused to provide any explanation or information, and I was locked out of my account on their website. The authorities were unable to assist me, as the scammers were untraceable.

    Just when I thought all was lost, my nephew, a Canadian government lawyer, introduced me to Morphohack Cyber Service, a reputable private investigator and crypto recovery company. I visited their website (www . morphohackcyber . com) and, after mustering the courage, contacted them. They listened attentively as I recounted my ordeal and educated me on the scam, revealing that numerous others had fallen victim to the same scheme.

    Although skeptical at first, I decided to take a chance. Morphohack guided me through the process, instructing me to set up a new wallet. To my astonishment, they successfully recovered my stolen Bitcoin and transferred it to my new wallet. I was stunned, struggling to comprehend how this was possible.

    I initially wanted to keep this experience private, but I realized that there may be others out there who have suffered similar losses. If you're a victim of crypto theft, I urge you to reach out to Morphohack Cyber Service. They can be contacted through their website or email. (Morphohack@cyberservices . com, Info@morphohackcyber . com) Don't give up hope, there is a way to recover your stolen crypto assets.

    0 Go to comments
    T
    Theresa Wright 3 hours ago
    Six Nations: 5 things we've learned from half-way point weekend

    Have always had trust issues with my boyfriend but to clear my doubt I had to hire verifiedprohackers@gmail.com to help monitor all activities done on my boyfriend phone just to be sure his not cheating because am tired of always stalking him when ever he doesn’t pick my calls or has a call and refuses to pick his calls I tend to feel his seeing  another woman so in other to make things easy for me verifiedprohackers@gmail.com gave me the best phone hack with no trace and now I feel satisfied. Thank you so much verifiedprohackers@gmail.com

    5 Go to comments
    TRENDING
    TRENDING Ex-Scotland captain and British & Irish Lions star Laidlaw dies Ex-Scotland captain and British & Irish Lions star Laidlaw dies
    Search