Rob Baxter on the 'one challenge' Exeter have with Henry Slade

Exeter Chiefs boss Rob Baxter admits that he will manage England star Henry Slade over the next few weeks, even though he is exempt from having a mandatory week off before Christmas.

Slade only played against Argentina last week, having missed the wins over Australia, Fiji and the All Blacks, so he won’t have to miss one of the Chiefs’ next three games.

And Baxter is being careful not to overwork a player who has been in exceptional form this season, scoring six tries in his last four games for club and country.

“There are no rules that say he has to miss any games. The one challenge we have to get right is that he has been in the England camp every week from that first game that was outside regulation nine.

“But the EPS players were released for the game against Australia. So he has been involved and then rejoined on a Sunday. So, although he doesn’t have to miss a game, we do have to be a little bit careful managing him.

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“We will need to get a little bit of a break into him at some stage because he is one of the guys who has had no break since the start of the season. It’s managing the group as well as we can over the next couple of weeks,” he said.

Baxter says that he will also be keeping tabs on Len Ikitau, who, as well as being named in the World Rugby Men’s 15s Dream Team of the Year, became a father for the second time this week with the birth of a daughter, Lyla Leigh-Ana.

“It’s the same for Len. He didn’t play in the whole game, so there is no regulation. He went into camp, and to be fair, Australia managed him fantastically well. I had conversations with Australia before Len came over.

“And they said that they were aware he was joining us straight from the Rugby Championship and the Lions, and they would look to play him in only two games in the Autumn, which they did.

“They have managed him exceptionally well again. He is someone who has been in camp, so we have just got to manage him,” added Baxter.