The business end of the season has crucial matches close together
Exeter Chiefs’ director of rugby Rob Baxter has called the fixture schedule an “absolute madness”.
He reflected on Harlequins’ run of games. Quins faced Toulouse in the Champions Cup semi-final six days before they had a Premiership game. Quins were the team Exeter faced on Saturday with the south west side beating them 58-26 at Sandy Park.
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“I spoke to a couple of their coaches afterwards. I said no-one appreciates how hard it is to come back from Toulouse on a Sunday and play on a Saturday more than I.
“The Premiership calendar does not help English teams in Europe. If we had got to the semi-final, we would have had to play Gloucester on the Sunday pre-Toulouse on the Saturday.
“It is just absolute madness what we do. But we suffered against Bath and we have taken advantage of it today.”
Feyi-Waboso is making people look silly again. pic.twitter.com/YRnYFmhlZS
— Ben Coles (@bencoles_) May 11, 2024
Exeter’s match against Harlequins was a great audition for more England caps for Immanuel Feyi-Waboso who had an incredible performance.
Not only did Feyi-Waboso impress but Ethan Roots and England hopeful Greg Fisilau did too. Baxter had spoken about allowing the players to shine, particularly as they came up against two England players in Chandler Cunningham-South and Alex Dombrandt.
“We talked about it as a team in the week, there is a direct battle going on there isn’t there?” said Baxter.
“You have got Dombrandt and Cunningham-South in their back row and you have got Fisilau and Roots in our back row. There was a head-to-head confrontation going on there about who is touring with England.
“They have all been involved in England or England A squads, we talked about it in the week… are we going to give our lads the platform to come out on top of that? I think Greg put down as big a marker as he could.”
England will tour New Zealand this summer, as well as play Japan in Tokyo.
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