'No secret': Rob Baxter tackles dual-qualified giant Zack Wimbush rumours

Exeter Chiefs boss Rob Baxter believes that rising star Zack Wimbush needs to ignore talk of his international qualifications despite rave reviews for helping his side into the PREM Rugby Cup semi-finals.

Hong Kong-born Wimbush, 22, who stands at 6ft 6in, qualifies for Wales through his mum and England, who are likely to be his preference, scored a wonder try in the win over Bath to book their place in the last four.

But Baxter says that the outside centre, who has scored three tries in his last two games for the Chiefs, is some way off having to make a decision despite the noise coming from across the Severn Bridge.

“I know Wales have started to say bits and pieces. But no one said anything to me. Zack hasn’t said anything to me. I’d say he is some way off from having to make a serious decision about that.

“I think it’s another one of those kinds of situations where you get a sniff of a player playing that’s playing some decent rugby, and if they’ve got they’ve got Welsh or Scottish qualifications or whatever, all of a sudden these things come up.

“But I think he is actually a way off from having to worry about whether he decides to qualify for England or Wales, or, for that matter, Hong Kong,” Baxter told RugbyPass.

Baxter and the Chiefs are reaping the rewards of sending Wimbush to National One high flyers Plymouth Albion, where he found the form that allowed him to catch the eye on his return to Sandy Park.

“I make no secret about it. If I think a player is not quite coming up to scratch and needs game time more than anything else, we put them on loan.

“I think, because for me, playing rugby is the most important thing. That’s what we did, obviously, initially at Cornish Pirates, but picked up an injury and so didn’t play much.

“We got him back to finish his rehab and put him into Plymouth because they were looking to play somebody. He’s done well, and those performances merited him coming into the PREM Cup team, and he’s carried on from there.

“That’s how we want to try and do things. The weird thing is, I have supporters here who come up to me and
They go, why is that Zack Wimbush not been playing all season? It’s ridiculous that he’s been on loan at Plymouth.

“I said, no, going on loan to Plymouth is the reason he’s playing well now. And that’s the bit people sometimes don’t understand. You actually have to you actually have to play rugby to get on form,” he added.