Baxter's backing Sturgess

By Mark Stevens

Exeter Chiefs head coach Rob Baxter says he is expecting big things from Brett Sturgess next season after the long-serving prop today put pen to paper on a new one-year deal with the Aviva Premiership club.

A prominent figure in the recent rise of the Chiefs, the 31-year-old is now set to take his stay at Sandy Park into a ninth season following this latest agreement.

As ever keen to maintain a strong continuity within the Exeter playing ranks, Baxter has spoken of his delight at Sturgess extending his stay.

“The truth is that Brett has been a huge part of the success of Exeter Chiefs for a long time now,” said Baxter. “He is one of those guys who has come through the Championship with us and played for a lot of very important games for us as we have established ourselves in the Premiership.

“It is great that we have got him to stay for another year and it is one of those ones that you sometimes see with older players that when they start signing these extensions they keep going on and on and on and produce some of their best rugby.

“We want to establish a strong squad for next season and we think it is going to be a very challenging season.”

With the Chiefs set to be back amongst Europe’s elite clubs in next season’s Champions Cup, Baxter is fully aware that his squad is going to be tested to the max on all fronts.

“Once you are past the World Cup a lot of games come thick and fast,” added the Exeter coach. “We hope to be confirmed in the top European competition and, that being the case, there are going to be 28 weekends where we will be playing in the Premiership or the top European competition.

“You need a strong squad for that and strong characters and Brett is ideal for both. He has played very good rugby for us and is a very important man around the club too. You always look to guys having the right character and Brett has that, but we have always known that about him and so the main issue is that he is a valuable player to us.”

Despite a knee injury hampering his progress in more recent times, Baxter knows the former Connacht and Northampton Saints forward still brings a lot to the table.

Baxter continued: “Brett is always keen to better himself and he is one of those guys who pushes himself very hard to keep improving.

“He has had a tough season coming back from a major injury, but I think he is just about coming to the point where he needs to be. We are expecting a lot from Brett, both on and off the pitch next year, and I know that is what he is expecting as well.”

Having recently added front-row forwards Shaun Malton and Harry Williams to next year’s squad, as well as getting young prop Alex Hepburn up and running, Baxter likes the make-up of his options up front heading into the 2015/16 season.

“It pretty much finalises our front-row signings now,” said Baxter. “I do feel we have a good collection of front-row forwards now going forward. I am very excited about how that group can perform for us next season.

“With a full pre-season Brett can go full-on for next season and I for one want to see him really challenging our props. I want to see him pushing Ben Moon and Carl Rimmer and I want to see him fighting it out with them tooth and nail from the first day of pre-season and I am sure Brett does too.”