Baxter Highlights Need for Slade’s Fly-Half Experience at Exeter

Rob Baxter, Exeter’s head coach, has stated the team requires the experience of England centre Henry Slade at fly-half. Slade has made three appearances for Exeter this season, with his last two starts being in the fly-half position. The 31-year-old player has been deployed at fly-half in both of his games for the Chiefs since his return from international commitments. Exeter is currently seeking their inaugural victory of the season across both the Premiership and European Champions Cup competitions, as Baxter’s squad prepares for an away fixture against Sale on Saturday. Slade initially played as a fly-half at the start of his career before achieving success in the centre position. Baxter articulated his rationale, stating, “When you talk about what you need on the field – what do we need right here and now? – we need some real strong leadership and some real strong guidance.” He further elaborated, “We need people with the confidence and that kind of – I’m not going to say cockiness because it’s the wrong word – but that self-belief to stand there and make decisions and make calls and back them up and get the team to believe in it and back it up and do it 100%.” “That’s why we put Sladey in at 10, to give him that opportunity to drive the game for us,” Baxter concluded on the matter. Following Tamati Tua’s return to fitness, Baxter shifted Slade to an inside position, with Ben Hammersley taking Slade’s customary number 13 jersey during the 64-21 defeat against Toulouse. Baxter also acknowledged, “Ideally would I like him (Slade) at 13? Right here and now I probably would.” He continued, “But I’ve got to make the call on where I want him to play and I think at the start of games it works particularly well for us.” “I actually think moving him to 13 later in the game, as we had to make some changes, also worked well,” he observed. Baxter concluded by stating, “So it’s not that we haven’t got options, we’ve got options, but I’m trying to create a little bit of control with a couple of senior players at nine and 10 that can kind of lead the way a little bit.”