Rob Baxter makes telling selection admission over England pair

Exeter Chiefs boss Rob Baxter admits that he will resist the temptation to use Henry Slade and Greg Fisilau in their must-win PREM Rugby Cup clash with Bath at Sandy Park on Saturday.

Baxter says the Chiefs will find out this evening whether the pair will be retained by England as reserves for their Six Nations clash with Ireland this weekend, after being left out of the initial matchday squad.

But despite resources in the back five of the scrum stretched almost to breaking point, Baxter won’t use Fisilau, who would give him an option at No.8 and blindside flanker, unless it’s in an emergency.

Neither player has been used by Steve Borthwick in his Six Nations campaign so far, which raises the possibility of them going almost two months without playing.

They both appeared against Bristol Bears on January 24, and the next time the Chiefs are in PREM action is when Sale Sharks travel to Devon on March 21 if they aren’t involved in either the cup semi-finals or final.

Baxter said, “We won’t get told whether they’re travelling reserves until later today. So, if they’re returned to us, they are selectable. But our intention at this stage wouldn’t be to use them.

“We have every back five player of the scrum we have involved in the matchday 23. So Greg does give us a bit of a lifeline if anything happens today at training or tomorrow in the team run. But our intention is not to select them.”

Baxter will, however, consider them for the semi-finals in a fortnight if the Chiefs secure qualification by beating Bath, who slaughtered them 48-14 at Sandy Park in last season’s final.

“I think what we may do is if they’re not involved now for a period, and if we do qualify for the semi-final, we may look at potentially using them then, if they even, you know, we’re waiting to see if they become available late.

“Because it is going to get an extended period of time of them not playing, and they have both expressed that they’re happy to play.

“So we’ll just probably just play that week by week, depending on if they become available later in the week and how we feel comfortable selecting them, with them only coming in and doing a team run,” he said.