Baxter concedes French money beat Exeter as Iosefa-Scott heads to Pro D2

Rob Baxter has acknowledged that Exeter Chiefs were powerless to stop tight-head prop Josh Iosefa-Scott from departing for French Pro D2 side Provence, conceding that financial offers from across the English Channel are almost impossible to match when a player falls outside the England squad picture.

Iosefa-Scott, 30, was one of Exeter’s standout performers as the club reached the Gallagher Premiership Final last season. He scored a try on the opening weekend of the current campaign in the defeat to Gloucester and could make his 100th appearance for the club if he features against Bath this weekend. He was also nominated for the Gallagher Player of the Month award in May.

Baxter was candid about the circumstances that made the departure inevitable. The Chiefs director of rugby believes that a firmer foothold in the England setup — rather than the England A environment Iosefa-Scott has operated in — would have given the prop reason to stay.

“I think if circumstances were a little different for Josh — maybe being up the England pecking order one or two spots, if he genuinely felt he was either on the fringe of the squad or just in the squad — you’d kind of know there’s an EPS contract there, either now or possibly the following year,” Baxter said. “That changes things quite dramatically for players.”

With that pathway uncertain, Baxter says the decision from Iosefa-Scott’s perspective was rational. “When he looks and goes, ‘well, I’ve been in the England A setup, maybe I’m not going to make my breakthrough, I’ve now got to start looking after my long-term career’ — at the age he is, to maximise his revenue — I understand that.”

Far from viewing the loss as purely damaging, Baxter framed it as part of the natural rhythm of squad management at a club that consistently develops talent. “I don’t think they’re necessarily a negative for the English game, because as much as we don’t want to lose Josh, it forces us to look for another EQP tight-head,” he said.

“We’ve had to work very hard to keep some of our better players, especially as they dropped out of England contention. That’s part of the natural recycling of the game.”

The departure underlines a recurring challenge for Premiership clubs: retaining players who sit just outside the international frame, where the pull of a lucrative French contract — even from a second-division side with promotion ambitions — can outweigh loyalty and familiarity.