Baxter on McCall rivalry: Exeter need a draw to reach play-offs against departing Saracens boss

Rob Baxter will face Mark McCall for the last time on Saturday afternoon, with Exeter Chiefs needing just a draw at Sandy Park to clinch a Premiership play-off spot for the first time since 2021 — and to send McCall’s Saracens into an uncertain off-season without a top-four finish.

McCall, who is standing down as Saracens director of rugby at the end of the current campaign, oversaw three Premiership Final victories over Exeter — in 2016, 2018 and 2019 — though all three titles were later tainted by the salary cap scandal that prompted Exeter chairman Tony Rowe to demand Saracens’ names be removed from the trophy for those years.

Baxter acknowledged that the scandal altered the dynamic between the two coaches, but pushed back on any suggestion of outright hostility. “People might be surprised that our relationship has always been pretty good,” he said. “I probably spoke to him more before the salary cap stuff than I have since then, but we don’t walk into rooms, blank each other and ignore each other. It’s not like that. I don’t think sport is like that.”

The Exeter head coach was also generous in his assessment of McCall’s standing within his own squad. “He’s got a lot of respect from the players at Saracens. I think that’s probably the most important thing. If you have respect from the players and they think highly of you, that’s probably the biggest accolade you can have, and I think that’s clearly the case at Saracens.”

Baxter traced the cooling of the rivalry to Exeter’s difficult post-Covid period, which followed the club’s Premiership and Challenge Cup double six years ago. Rebuilding the squad on a tighter budget meant the Chiefs spent several seasons outside the top four, reducing the frequency of high-stakes meetings between the two sides.

“For me, probably the disappointing thing is that we didn’t maintain the rivalry to the level I’d have liked to have done post-Covid,” Baxter said. “We had to probably change the team to a higher degree and spend less to a higher degree. And that probably has put the rivalry on the back foot for three or four seasons.”

With both clubs now fighting for a top-four place on the final weekend, Baxter is clear-eyed about what the fixture represents. “It’s nice to see that it’s fully back in place now, because what more could you want? The two of us fighting out for top four at the end of the season shows it’s back on, and these games are loaded, and now it’s up to us to take our opportunities more than Saracens take their opportunities.”