Exeter's All Black signing McLeod held back as Baxter refuses to rush debut

Dallas McLeod will have to wait at least another week before making his Exeter Chiefs debut, with head coach Rob Baxter opting to manage the All Blacks centre carefully after a gruelling year of rugby.

McLeod, 26, arrived in Devon at the end of last week following a season that included Super Rugby with the Crusaders and a run to the NPC Final with Canterbury, where he helped his province beat Northland at the end of October. Despite being in full training with the squad, Baxter has ruled him out of Saturday’s Premiership Rugby Cup fixture against Bath at Sandy Park.

“He’s in now, but obviously he played a lot of minutes right through to the end of the NPC,” Baxter said. “So we’re not rushing to get him on the field. We’re just slowly building up his training time. Our anticipation is that he will be available through the Prem Cup period, whether that’s week two or week three.”

Baxter was clear about the reasoning behind the cautious approach. “What we don’t want to do is fly the guy in for 24 hours, a bit stiff, a bit sore, and play a lot of rugby. We are trying to get him up to speed in the correct manner, and then we can let him go.”

McLeod won his sole Test cap as a 41-minute substitute for Braydon Ennor during New Zealand’s 23-20 Bledisloe Cup victory over Australia in Dunedin in August 2023.

Elsewhere, Baxter confirmed that winger Paul Brown-Bampoe will make his first appearance of the season on Saturday after recovering from a heel injury. Late summer signings Obinna Nkwocha, André Goedhals, and Carwyn Tuipulotu are also in contention to feature, as is long-term absentee Ehren Painter.

“Paul’s in full training now. It’s a bit of a shame — we could have used him a few weeks ago, but he’s back hitting all of his markers,” Baxter said. “Obinna Nkwocha, we are really looking forward to seeing him, and André Goedhals.”