Baxter delighted as stars stay
Exeter Chiefs head coach Rob Baxter has spoken of his delight after two of his more senior stars committed themselves to the Premiership club for the next two years.
Prop Hoani Tui and Jason Shoemark have both penned new contracts with the ambitious Devon club following productive talks with Baxter, who believes the retention of both men is a massive boost to the playing squad.
Tui, who joined the Chiefs from Italian outfit Calvisano in the summer of 2009, is now into his third season with the Chiefs and has already amassed 66 appearances in total for the club, scoring six tries in the process.
Meanwhile, fellow New Zealander Shoemark is now into his second year at Sandy Park having joined from Super Rugby franchise the Highlanders. A virtual ever-present since his arrival in England, 31-year-old Shoemark has so far accrued 31 appearances, scoring two tries.
“I’m a big believer that your retention policy in some ways is more important that your recruitment,” said Baxter, who is hoping to tie up a number of his other out-of-contract players in the coming weeks.
“Making sure you keep the right players on board is obviously important for us. I feel we have got a good squad of players and good characters who have played a big part of our on-going success in getting to the Premiership and helping us establish ourselves.
“I don’t want to be making too many changes year on year and these two guys are a big part of things on and off the pitch.”
Tui, 27, has already proven this season how much of a valuable asset he is to the Exeter front-row, having featured both at loosehead and tight-head for the club in both the Premiership and European competition.
“It shows his value to us, he’s not just a good player – at tight-head and loosehead – but his attitude says it all,” added Baxter. “Every player likes to play in their preferred position and Hoani is no different, he wants to play as well as he can at tight-head and really wants to establish himself there.
“I had a two-minute conversion with him when Moony was injured and Sturge had been knocked around and said we may need him to step in at loosehead and it wasn’t an issue for him. He said he’d give it a go and had just one scrummaging session to get himself reacquainted with playing at loosehead before he was straight in there, starting an Amlin Challenge Cup game.
“He’s a good character, a popular member of the squad and a very good player. What people may not understand is that Hoani is still getting better, particularly as a tight-head. If you look at how much top-level rugby he’s played you’ll see he’s still learning as he goes.
“He signed for us in the Championship, last year in the Premiership he didn’t play every game by any means because he got injured fairly early on and this season he’s played some games at tight-head and some at loosehead.
“He’s going to get better for some time yet, he’s going to be gaining experience for the next three or four years. For me he is a good player who could be very good and that on-going process is going to be fantastic.”
Likewise, Shoemark’s experience to the Exeter midfield has also been key according to the Chiefs coach.
“We spent a lot of time looking for a player like Shoey,” added Baxter. “We wanted someone with experience, not just of matches but someone used to being a leader, used to playing in different groups of people and bringing the best out of those around them. Shoey ticked all those boxes.
“It’s very rare he has one of those errors that you can’t see where it came from. He’s very sound defensively and is a better ball carrier than people give him credit for. He was used to captaining teams before he came to Exeter and the way he is around training and around the squad shows that. Other players are comfortable with him.
“Defensively it is key to have a guy in the midfield making tackles and then competing for the ball and making sure the opposition don’t get too quick ball and those are qualities Shoey has.
“I don’t think we’ve seen the best of him in an Exeter shirt. His performances are still getting better and that’s always pleasing for coaches. We are a long way from being the finished article as a team and Shoey is a key part of that. He’s keen to develop areas of our game and his game and that’s what we want to have here.
“Both players are ambitious and both want more from the game than they have at the moment.”
