Rob Baxter explains what needed to change to keep Josh Iosefa-Scott

Exeter Chiefs boss Rob Baxter admits that he would have loved to keep tight-head Josh Iosefa-Scott at Sandy Park next season but accepts that there is little they can do when French clubs come calling, even those in Pro D2.

Iosefa-Scott, 30, was a key performer as the Chiefs reached the Gallagher PREM Final last season, and scored a try in their opening weekend defeat to Gloucester, but next season he will play for Pro D2 promotion hopefuls Provence.

The England A international, who stands at 6ft 4in, was nominated for May’s Gallagher Player of the Month award and could make his 100th appearance if he plays against Bath this weekend.

Baxter believes that had Iosefa-Scott been in or around the England squad, it would have been easier for him to reject a move across the English Channel, but he knows it won’t be the last time his club is raided for players.

“I think if circumstances were a little different for Josh, and when I say a little different, maybe being up the England pecking order one or two spots, and if he genuinely felt he was either on the fringe of the squad or just in the squad.

“You’d kind of know there’s an EPS contract there, either now or possibly the following year. That changes things quite dramatically for players.

“But I think when he looks, and he goes, ‘well, I’ve been in the England A setup, maybe I’m not going to make my breakthrough, I’ve now got to start looking after my long-term career, and where will that be longer term for me, at the age I am, to maximise my revenue?

“I don’t think they’re necessarily a negative for the English game, because as much as we don’t want to lose Josh, it forces us to look for another EQP tight-head.

“I could do things differently within our squad to try and manipulate money from here to there, whatever. But these are just the battles you go through. The more good players we have, the more successful seasons we have.

“This is what happens. We’ve had that in the past and that will happen again in the future. We’ve had to work very hard to keep some of our better players, especially as they dropped out of England contention. That’s part of the natural recycling of the game,” said Baxter.