Saints are playing mind games over prop, says Baxter
Exeter coach claims Boyd is trying to influence the referee Northampton given special dispensation to sign Seville
Rob Baxter, the Exeter director of rugby, has accused Northampton of playing “mind games” over their claims of an injury crisis at prop before their Champions Cup quarter-final on Sunday.
Northampton have been granted special dispensation by European Professional Club Rugby, the tournament organiser, to sign Alex Seville ( below) from Gloucester on emergency loan n after all four of their senior loosehead oosehead props suffered injuries. s.
That left Manny nny Iyogun, a 19-year-old with h just one Premiership appearance, rance, as their only fit loosehead ad prop, which led Chris Boyd, , the director of rugby, to speculate culate that the match would uld go to uncontested scrums crums if Exeter went full-bore with their international national tighthead pairing ing of Harry Williams s and Tomas Francis.
“If Manny plays lays and we get somemeone of lesser qualality, the attitude de
Exeter take at scrum time will decide whether it goes to uncontested scrums or not,” said Boyd, who added that Dan Cole, the Leicester prop, had been a “little bit kind” to Iyogun on his Premiership debut on Sunday. While Baxter had no objection to Northampton registering Seville, he did take issue with Boyd’s comments, which he suggested were an attempt to influence the officiating of the scrum.
“That is exactly the kind of comment I am talking about, because what does it mean?” Baxter said. “It means that Northampton will have to go to uncontested scrums if they don’t like how the scrum is going, but they won’t go to uncontested scrums if we don’t pu push.
“It is just a we weird comment, because the reaso reason [we] should be able to go to uncontested scrums is for inju injured players. It is a bit of a thr throwaway comment at this stage in the week. For what reason is it made made? It is pretty obviou obvious; it is to create so some kind of an influ influence on some kind of a situation.” Ba Baxter also said that Seville played agai against Exeter recent cently without any issu issues, and that Chie Chiefs tighthead prop Alfie Petch made his debut just
two weeks ago as a replacement against Northampton.
“He was 20 years old and I can’t remember anything being in the press about there being an issue about a guy playing his first minute of Premiership rugby, and the same two sides are involved,” Baxter said.
“I think some of it is a little bit mind games, if I am honest, and a scenario that potentially isn’t really there when you look at what clubs have been doing in games anyway.
“We need to isolate ourselves from it and do what we do because we are very aware it is a Heineken Cup quarter-final and we have all got to get on with it.”
Seville, 22, has not started a Premiership match, but has made 10 appearances as a replacement. Even as Northampton expressed relief that they were able to bring in Seville, there remained frustration at how long the process took after
they first contacted EPCR on Sept 9. During that time they were contacted by props from Brazil and Portugal offering their services, but by the time that EPCR gave the green light they were unable to recruit from abroad because of Covid-19 and visa restrictions.
“We are pleased that EPCR have adopted a sensible approach in the ruling,” Mark Darbon, the Northampton chief executive, said. “Given the length of time it took for this decision to be made, and the challenge of bringing in new players at this stage of the season, we would like to thank Gloucester, who have agreed to loan us Alex Seville until the end of September.
“Alex will be available for our European Champions Cup quarterfinal match on Sunday. We are also grateful to Exeter for the pragmatism they have shown in supporting today’s decision.”