Baxter gives update on Nowell and other Exeter walking wounded
Rob Baxter has been handed a fitness boost as the Exeter injury concerns coming out of last Saturday’s Gallagher Premiership semi-final win over Bath – including Jack Nowell – have all cleared up ahead of this Saturday’s Champions Cup final versus Racing 92 in Bristol.
England winger Nowell, 27, wasn’t included in the league selection due to a foot injury sustained in the European semi-final against Toulouse, his place going to Olly Woodburn, and Exeter went on to pick up some further injury concerns as a number of players limped out of the 35-6 five-try win.
Those concerns have now cleared, though, leaving Baxter with all his options available as the Chiefs prepare to take on Racing at Ashton Gate.
“Every player who hobbled (off), a lot of them were cramp, a lot of them were little things like a bit of a sore ankle or a bit of soreness,” explained Baxter on Wednesday. “We were fortunate in that last ten minutes, a quarter of an hour, we got comfortable enough on the scoreboard to be able to not risk people staying on with cramp or not risk people with slightly tweaked ankles.
“Jonny Gray, Henry Slade, they are in full training today. Joe Simmonds is training fully. Who else came off? Olly? Training fully, so we’re selecting from a full-strength side. Jack Nowell trained yesterday (Tuesday) so again he is in contention.
“Exeter have gone up a gear considerably, have been the form team and are well poised. They have played some fantastic rugby in a crazy year"
– Ex-@Saracens talisman @bradbarritt on what it will take for @ExeterChiefs to do double
w/@chrisjonespress???https://t.co/mgkX0e4lpD
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) October 13, 2020
“We take a long time on selection and we look at all of those things. You look at Jack, how he played before he picked up that foot injury late on against Toulouse, how he played against Northampton when he scored a fantastic try in that game, how he has played in other big games for us.
“I don’t think I have seen a winger play a better game in the Premiership final than Jack Nowell played last season,” continued the Exeter boss. “So you look at that and you know what he’s capable of doing.
“But at the same time, we have to watch him train and assess it carefully to make sure he’s at the level to be able to perform like that. At the same time, we have to be able to take into account the performances of Tom O’Flaherty, who has been very consistent over an extended period of time, and Olly Woodburn, who came back and had a great game in the semi-final after a little period out with an injury.
“We have got to take all those things into account. There isn’t any one thing that trumps the others and when we assess all those things we just have to come up with the honest and best decision.”
Exeter to Bristol is only a 90-mile spin but Baxter confirmed his Chiefs will travel up on the Friday and overnight rather than risk traffic delays on game day. “We’re staying the night before as we always would,” he confirmed. “We have got used to it over a number of years that we always stay (overnight, even with Bath and Bristol.
“The reality is there is no way of predicting what M5 traffic will be like at any given time whether it’s a Friday or a Saturday or whenever or fixtures are. The only way we can confirm good timings is to stay overnight.”
Imagine popping up on Irish breakfast TV to talk about an Anglo-French finalhttps://t.co/02963LCZOn
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) October 13, 2020
Comments on RugbyPass
late hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
4 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
24 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
24 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
24 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
24 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
9 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
9 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
28 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
24 Go to comments