Rob Baxter admits Christ Tshiunza 'rumours could be entirely true'

Exeter Chiefs boss Rob Baxter admits that EQP regulations are likely to see Wales international openside Christ Tshiunza return to Cardiff when his contract runs out at the end of the season.

Tshiunza, who hails from Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is poised to move to the Welsh capital after rejecting offers from Gallagher PREM rivals as a replacement for Ulster-bound Ben Donnell.

The 24-year-old flanker, who went to Whitchurch High School in Cardiff, was part of Cardiff’s academy before joining the Chiefs after starting at the University of Exeter.

But he has been blighted by injury problems that caused him to miss the 2022 Six Nations, and he has only played three times this season. He has been out of action since September because of a recurring foot problem.

Tshiunza is back running again, but the Chiefs are being careful to avoid any setbacks which could see him need an operation to solve the problem once and for all.

And Baxter says clubs must maintain an average of 15 England-Qualified Players (EQPs) in their 23-man matchday squad across the season or risk a fine of £250,000.

“He is off contract at the end of this season with us, and we haven’t re-signed him. So those rumours could be entirely true, but I couldn’t tell you if they are.”

“The tough one with Christ, really, I don’t mind saying, our EQP numbers are quite tight and making sure that we have that balance in the squad, because for us, it’s very, very important that we keep the funding for the EQP balance.

“And when you look at the makeup, particularly in our forwards, where our frontline players are, especially when you see guys like Bachuki Tchumbadze coming through, who obviously is non-EQP.

“We’ve signed Nika Abuladze, who is obviously non-EQP, to make our frontline forwards as strong as we have. At some stage, EQP becomes quite an important factor for us.

“And obviously, Zambo (Andrea Zambonin) is going well with Daff (Dafydd Jenkins) in the second row. Tom Hooper is going well in the back row. You know, we start to fill up our non-EQP quota pretty quickly.

“So that’s the challenge with keeping Christ. We have to hit an average of 15 across the season. But it’s no different to every other club in the league. You have to make decisions on where your numbers are,” he said.