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Exeter react to loss of two Scotland players this week and give update on Henry Slade's England injury

By Liam Heagney
(Photo by PA)

Rob Baxter has wished his Scotland players Stuart Hogg and Sam Skinner well for their rearranged Guinness Six Nations match with France, a game which resulted in the kick-off time of the Exeter game at Gloucester being brought forward this Friday. He has also provided an update on the Henry Slade injury and the return of the Chiefs’ other internationals to the club this week. 

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With their round three match in Paris postponed on February 28, Scotland had been in lengthy discussions with Premiership Rugby and the Six Nations to ensure their contingent of English-based players were all released for this Friday’s rearranged Test fixture at Stade de France.

An agreement was slow in forthcoming and when it arrived it came with the kicker that the Scots could only pick five of their Premiership players due to the level of player release compensation that was paid to the league in England. 

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All Blacks legend Sean Fitzpatrick talks about Eddie Jones’ struggling England team

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All Blacks legend Sean Fitzpatrick talks about Eddie Jones’ struggling England team

That left Scotland boss Gregor Townsend to carefully consider his options and in the end, he decided to choose Exeter pair Hogg and Skinner, Gloucester duo Chris Harris and Alex Craig and Harlequins’ Scott Steele. 

The decision will leave Hogg and Skinner only arriving back at Exeter for next weekend’s Champions Cup round of 16 game versus Lyon as opposed to joining everyone else in reporting back at Sandy Park earlier this week following last weekend’s Six Nations round five matches. 

Baxter won’t complain, though, and has wished the Scots well when they go into battle not long after full-time has blown in the Exeter match at Kingsholm. “I don’t get involved in these things,” said the Chiefs coach when asked about the politics that eventually led to a partial player release agreement between PRL, the SRU and the Six Nations.

“These are things that occur between PRL and the CEOs and the owners and the national bodies. As far as I know, there has been an agreement made over the level of compensation for the clubs who lose players. Once that was agreed it was pretty straightforward and the guys [Hogg and Skinner] could stay. 

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“Disappointed for Jonny Gray that he has come up with a bit of a sore shoulder. There doesn’t seem to be anything too serious but they didn’t want to risk him so he is on his way back here. We won’t involve him this weekend. He’ll hopefully have a good block of recovery time to get ready for the Lyon game.

“It is always frustrating to be without good players, of course it is, but we have dealt with it so far and for Stuart Hogg in particular it is massively important he is involved,” reasoned Exeter boss Baxter. “He is the Scotland captain, which is huge for him. Sam Skinner has not had massive involvement with Scotland so it is a good opportunity for him to play some more international rugby. 

“I can’t say on one hand we really want ambitious players here, we want players who can play at their absolute best and achieve their dreams, and then turn around and say we don’t like it when they play international rugby. You have to take it for what it is, it’s a great opportunity for them.

“It’s a big opportunity for Scotland to help Wales win the Six Nations. It’s going to be a big game, one that is very interesting because France have still got a fair bit to do to win this Six Nations.”

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One player back at Exeter is England midfielder Slade who suffered a training ground calf muscle injury that left him unavailable for his country’s round five defeat away to Ireland. “He seems okay,” enthused Baxter. “The scans showed up not too much so from what we are seeing, just a bit of TLC this week and he should be fine for the Lyon game.”

As regards England duo Luke Cowan-Dickie and Jonny Hill and Wales prop Tomas Francis, the Exeter coach added: “Luke has come back a bit bumped and bruised. We will have a good assessment of where he is before we make any calls on what he is going to do, but he is in and around the club and is looking sparky, is looking to get on with things as all the England lads are. 

“Jonny Hill the same. We look in a good place with our returning internationals. Tom Francis was in training Monday, getting on with things. It’s great to have them around now and we know we have got them around until the end of the season.”

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J
Jon 2 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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j
john 4 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

15 Go to comments
A
Adrian 6 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

15 Go to comments
T
Trevor 9 hours ago
Will forgotten Wallabies fit the Joe Schmidt model?

Thanks Brett.. At last a positive article on the potential of Wallaby candidates, great to read. Schmidt’s record as an international rugby coach speaks for itself, I’m somewhat confident he will turn the Wallaby’s fortunes around …. on the field. It will be up to others to steady the ship off the paddock. But is there a flaw in my optimism? We have known all along that Australia has the players to be very competitive with their international rivals. We know that because everyone keeps telling us. So why the poor results? A question that requires a definitive answer before the turn around can occur. Joe Schmidt signed on for 2 years, time to encompass the Lions tour of 2025. By all accounts he puts family first and that’s fair enough, but I would wager that his 2 year contract will be extended if the next 18 months or so shows the statement “Australia has the players” proves to be correct. The new coach does not have a lot of time to meld together an outfit that will be competitive in the Rugby Championship - it will be interesting to see what happens. It will be interesting to see what happens with Giteau law, the new Wallaby coach has already verbalised that he would to prefer to select from those who play their rugby in Australia. His first test in charge is in July just over 3 months away .. not a long time. I for one wish him well .. heaven knows Australia needs some positive vibes.

21 Go to comments
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