Rob Baxter, Exeter manager, said that he believes his team’s identity wouldn’t be lost if any of his top homegrown players leave in the summer.
Reports suggest that Luke Cowan, a hooker for the British Lions and England, has been linked to a move from England to Montpellier. Meanwhile, fellow academy graduates Jack Nowell will be out of contract.
Baxter stated, “I don’t have a fear of the identity being lost.”
“People believe that our identity over the past period was about this core group. But it wasn’t about Devon and Cornwall.
“It was wonderful that they were from our academy, and it was great they were local. But it was actually the people that made it work. That’s what we need to do. We have to become that type of person with that kind squad.
“It is more about what we have in our DNA as players or as a club than the fact that you are local.”
Baxter stated that Cowan-Dickie’s fate is uncertain. It’s not my place to decide now which way it’s going.
Baxter’s comments on Ewers and Nowell would be: “I don’t believe they’ve signed for anybody else, but they’ve not signed for us.”
“Things will Change”
Last season Exeter saw Jonny, England’s second row, and Sam Skinner, the homegrown Scotland lock, leave for lucrative deals in other countries than the Chiefs.
Nowell, Simmonds Cowan-Dickie and Henry Slade, as well as Jack Maunder, all came through Exeter’s youth program and went on to win England honours. They also helped the side win two domestic titles and one European title.
With a reduced salary cap of £5m and just one marquee player exemption, Premiership teams are finding it hard to keep top players. For internationals, who are in their twenties or thirties following next autumn’s World Cup, a more wealthy league in France could be an attractive option.
Baxter believes that England’s top division is in good shape, despite Wasps and Worcester being forced out of Premiership because of financial problems and Exeter having to sell their share in the hotel they built after the Covid-19 pandemic.
He said that things will change as the environment for financial transactions changes. This has always been true. However, he warned that it was important to avoid getting into the “real negative spiral” we are all in.
“Next year’s the last year of the £5m cap, after that I would think the following year there’ll be an awful lot of clubs, I know we’ll be the same, we will spend what we can afford to spend.
“Whether that’s the full credit and all credits or the one marquee actor, it’s what we will do.
“But we’ve always done that regardless, and if financial conditions change down the line, I imagine that the cap might go up.”
“The cap was quite progressive over five or six of the years until Covid struck. It was a progressive and growing system, so there’s nothing that history says it won’t happen again once our financial stability has improved.”