Baxter's joy at landing Gray
By Mark Stevens
03/01/20
Exeter Chiefs Director of Rugby, Rob Baxter, says he is delighted to finally get his man following the capture of Scottish international Jonny Gray.
The 25-year-old forward will move to the Chiefs ahead of the 2020/21 season on a two-year deal and is Baxter’s first statement of intent as he looks to further develop his squad in the future.
Joining from Glasgow Warriors, Gray will arrive at Sandy Park with an already impressive rugby CV. Having been at Scotstoun since 2012, he has amassed over 100 appearances for the Scottish club, as well as collecting 55 Test caps along the way.
Having tracked the lock forward for a number of years, Baxter says the arrival of Gray to the Westcountry is a significant move – and he looks forward to helping the player further develop his career on all fronts.
“For obvious reasons, I am really pleased,” said Baxter. “As always, we look to strengthen the playing group whenever we can with the right people; in the right positions; with the right qualities, right age range; and Jonny ticks a lot of boxes for us. A bit like Stuart Hogg last year, he’s another we would have liked to have signed in his last contract cycle, but we came up a little short then.
“A bit like Stuart, he chose to stay at Glasgow, but when he became available this time round, we spoke again and fortunately this time he said he would like to come to us, which is fantastic news for us.”
Baxter continued: “Jonny’s a real Scotsman, who is very proud of what he has achieved with Scotland and with Glasgow, but he just feels the time is right to try something different in a rugby environment. We now owe to him, now he’s committed to us, to do everything we can to help him play in as good and as successful side as we can.
“At the same time, we’ll hopefully help him develop into the best player he can be over these next few years of his career.
“Already he’s international quality so we got to have some hopes and expectations, and I am sure Jonny has too, for that continuing and developing further. We are comfortable that there is more to come from him. In no way is he the finished article, but that will be down to his hard work and us working with him to ensure that happens. As I said, it just feels to me like a really good signing for both parties.”
Gray will obviously have a few familiar faces to help welcome him to Sandy Park with Hogg and international team-mate Sam Skinner already on board, but Baxter believes his new addition will help add to the quality already in place at the club.
“I guess the stat that stands out with Jonny – and everyone will be aware of it – is what a good tackler he is,” added Baxter. “He makes an awful lot of tackles, very few missed tackles, and he works extremely hard in all areas of his game.
“When you track a player for three or four years, like we have with Jonny, you tend to see a lot of them. Even when I can’t sign someone initially, I will still keep an eye on them and just see how things develop. In Jonny’s case, I’m more than confident he’s the right kind of player for us and he’s one of those guys that will give us that ability to be even better in both the Premiership and Europe over an extended period.
“As I often say, you have got to keep fighting and finding ways of becoming a better side, on and off the field, and Jonny is one of those signings that will help us do that.”