Baxter back his Chiefs for Lions inclusion
By Mark Stevens
6/5/21
Exeter Chiefs Director of Rugby, Rob Baxter, is hopeful the club could have a hearty contingent in Warren Gatland's British & Irish Lions squad named later today.
Four years ago, Jack Nowell became the first-ever Chiefs player to be selected for the representative side on their tour to New Zealand.
In the years that have followed, however, Devon's finest have proven themselves as one of the rising forces within both the English and European game, a fact underlined with last season's double glory when Baxter's side lifted both the Gallagher Premiership and Heineken Champions Cup.
And it's that growing emergence which has given the Chiefs leader renewed optimism that more of his players will be among Gatland's squad to tour South Africa this summer.
Aside from potentially having the recently fit-again Nowell in the mix, Exeter have multiple other candidates in their ranks including Scotland skipper Stuart Hogg, fellow Scot Jonny Gray, together with England’s Luke Cowan-Dickie, Henry Slade and Sam Simmonds, as well as Wales’ Tomas Francis.
With such interest, Baxter was keen to talk up the hopes of his players at his weekly media call ahead of his side's Premiership clash with Worcester Warriors this Saturday at Sandy Park.
“Difficult,” said Baxter when asked what the Lions mood was at the Exeter. “Because guys don’t really want to talk about it. The guys who are genuinely in the reckoning don’t really want to talk about it too much because for obvious reasons they don’t want to do anything unlucky which I can understand.
“And the guys who are not quite in there don’t want to say too much because they don’t want to feel bad for other people. It’s a difficult scenario. It’s a shame it’s a Thursday which is our day off because it is always nice to see the guys quickly but I kind of have the feeling that quite a few of the guys are pleased they are going to find out on their own and deal with the circumstances on their own for a little bit first before they come in on Friday.
“We have got to have hopes of getting quite a few in,” he continued when asked will Exeter come out of the Lions selection better than they did in 2017. “Now that doesn’t mean that will necessarily happen but if you think based on the last two or three years of form, where we have been as a club, the international form some of our players have been in as well, you have got to say there is a group there who are certainly in the reckoning.
“It doesn’t take a genius to work out who they are and the outside of our international players we have got guys who have had really good seasons both in Europe and the Premiership the last couple of years.
“Guys are very aware there is a lot of chat around the Simmonds boys and guys like that who haven’t been picking up internationals at the moment. We have got a collection of players who have played well, both internationally and domestically, so we should be hopeful to get a number in there.”
Asked about the possible significance of the selection for either of the Simmonds brothers given their repeated omission by England, the Exeter boss added: “I don’t know if it is any more significant because it [the Lions] gets selected in a different way. That is the reality of the scenario. It is a different selection aiming to achieve something different.
“It’s a fantastic achievement if they can do it but I am not one of these people that wants to make a significant issue why one thing happens and the other doesn’t because there are numerous reasons why that can happen.
“That is why it has just got to be down to players to keep training hard, playing hard, playing well in front of coaches when it really matters in important times which those guys have done, particularly around the Lions selection situation so we are just sitting here crossing our fingers and hoping the best for them all.”