Baxter rules himself out of the top job – for now
Rob Baxter has distanced himself from the immediate possibility of a mentored role under Eddie Jones, although the Exeter director of rugby has not ruled out the possibility at some point in the future.
Baxter is a prime candidate for the sort of post envisaged by the RFU, an experienced and accomplished practitioner on the club circuit who could be tutored by Jones on the step-up to international level.
The end of Baxter’s current contract at Exeter Chiefs coincides with the 2020 time-frame that the RFU are looking at for the next successor to Jones to be in place.
However, there is no sign at the moment of Baxter declaring his commitment to such a cause, even though he does admit that the position itself is attractive.
“I’m not going to sit here and deny that it’s not an interesting proposition and that the job isn’t an interesting job because, of course, it is,” “Baxter told The Daily Telegraph. “People say that England is the top step of the ladder and that’s what you should be working towards all the time but, emotionally, it doesn’t feel like that to me at this point in time, that it is something I am driving myself forward for.
“Until it feels like that, you should probably stay away from it. That’s my feeling. At the moment, I am very emotionally driven about what I’m doing here at Exeter and that, hopefully, means it gives me the best chance of making a good job of it.
“You should only put yourself forward for any of these roles when you are 100 per cent ready for it yourself. Am I plotting and planning towards it? Not really. Who knows how it will be in two years’ time? I’m not going to predict that, where we are as a rugby club or I am as a coach.
“At this stage, though, it is simply not my driver, not the thing that is getting me out of bed in the morning. If I woke up and said to my wife, Jo, that I want a change, that I’ve done all I can here at Exeter, then so be it. But I don’t feel that. I wake up and want to get into work at the Chiefs, getting ready for matches like this weekend’s big Champions Cup game at Glasgow. That’s how it is at the moment.”