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Rob Baxter on what stopped Henry Slade jumping ship at Exeter years ago
By Neil Fissler
Rob Baxter believes Henry Slade will spend the rest of his career with Exeter Chiefs after signing a new deal that will run until he turns 35.
The Plymouth-born England international, who has won 74 caps for his country, will be 33 next month made his Chiefs debut as a 20-year-old against London Welsh in 2012 and has since clocked up 259 appearances in all competitions.
Linked with R360 last summer, he had talks with Stade Francais after Steve Borthwick left him out of his 2023 World Cup squad, but Baxter now thinks it would take a case of wanderlust for him to leave now.
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“He could (end his career at Exeter), I think it would have to take Henry deciding that he and the family want an adventure or something, but at the same time, I know he’s very settled here. He’s very comfortable. His family are all local.
“There are a lot of reasons to stay, and hopefully that’s what will happen. I don’t know what other discussions Henry had with other clubs or in other countries. I genuinely don’t know.
“Things happen quite quickly. I think without a doubt, he was probably looking to see what happened with R360, seeing exactly how that felt.
“But once that was not an option, there wasn’t really anything for us to wait on, and everything got done very quickly,” Baxter told RugbyPass.
Baxter admits that it would have been an easy decision for Slade to join the exodus that saw the likes of Sam and Joe Simmonds, Luke Cowan-Dickie, Jack Nowell, Jonny Hill, Jonny Gray and Stuart Hogg all leave.
But he feels that he is now being rewarded for his loyalty with the Chiefs looking challenge for silverware on three fronts this season after a rebuilding programme.
“I think fair play to Henry. You know, he stayed around with a number of other senior players left. That could have been an easy time for him to go and say he wanted to experience something else and do something else.
“And maybe cash in on the experience had at the time. But, he was still in the England reckoning. That’s still very important to him. He’s chosen to stay and carry on things.
“And hopefully he’s being rewarded for those decisions by improving the squad and playing better this season. He’s getting to playing some more successful sides at the moment,” he added.
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