English is best, insists Baxter

By Mark Stevens

Exeter Chiefs head coach Rob Baxter believes there is enough quality within England to find Stuart Lancaster’s successor as national coach.

Baxter - who used Thursday’s weekly media briefing to re-affirm his own long-term commitment to the Devon club - says a quick glance across the Aviva Premiership could provide the Rugby Football Union with a potential answer.

He cited fellow coaches Jim Mallinder and Richard Cockerill (pictured below) as genuine contenders for the role, whilst at the same time stressing that the need for a Southern Hemisphere influence was not necessarily the best idea moving forward.

“I actually think English coaches are best placed to work on the management of England's best players through into an international environment and get the best out of them,” said Baxter.

“For me, the key thing to remember before we start talking about an overseas coach is that sometimes you need to step back and appreciate that the cultures of New Zealand rugby, Australian rugby and South African rugby, are very different to English rugby.

“And I think before the RFU jump into this perceived need to sign a Southern Hemisphere coach, they need to hold on a little bit and remember that the set-up in England is very different to the set-ups in Super Rugby.”

He continued: “England need to be very careful that they don't think they're going to put a coach into the English game, which is built differently through the Premiership clubs, and think that that guy's not going to get quite frustrated with what he wants to put in place.

"We've got a very challenging structure here at club level. It's very pressurised with promotion and relegation between the Championship and Premiership, and that creates new pressures and it creates people who can deal with these things and deal with difficult scenarios.

"I don't see why guys who are flourishing in the Premiership can't go on and flourish in the international environment."

Indeed, Baxter cites the likes of counterparts Mallinder and Cockerill as creditable, home-grown options that the RFU should consider.

"Richard Cockerill has had a lot of success at Leicester, Jim Mallinder's done very well over a long period at Northampton," said the 44-year-old, who this season has led the Chiefs to second in the Premiership after four games.

"There are coaches there who have done their time and I would like to think they would at least get asked, or be thought of as genuine contenders, before we start thinking that we've got to bring in an overseas coach."

And whilst Baxter has been ‘flattered’ to be linked with the England role, he insists he still has a job to do at Sandy Park.

“I’m under a long-term contract here at Exeter, I’ve not been contacted by the RFU, so there’s no more to tell you really,” he said.

“I’ve said before, I have a big emotional involvement with this club and I have committed to this club and I intend to honour that.

“Yes, it’s flattering to be linked and I often get the headlines for a lot of other people’s hard work. I get headlines based on the fact all the coaches here do a great job, the players buy into what we want and work hard, and over time we have developed and recruited very well.

“The head coach at any team is only as good as the team around him and I am lucky to have a fantastic team around me.”