‘Why can’t we do it’ – Premiership boss ‘jealous’ of Leinster after Jordie Barrett signing

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Exeter Chiefs boss Rob Baxter says that the Premiership should be aiming to match Leinster and the United Rugby Championship’s ambition following confirmation of Jordie Barrett’s move to the Irish side.

In a major coup for Leinster, the All Blacks and Hurricanes back Barrett will join the side on a short-term deal from December with the back bucking the trend of New Zealand stars taking up short stints in Japan.

The Exeter boss believes that Barrett’s sabbatical in the URC is valuable for European rugby and has urged the Premiership and its clubs to also become an appealing destination for overseas stars.

Waitrose or Aldi, Fortnum and Mason

Baxter adds that the Premiership clubs are shopping in different shops compared to the likes of Leinster.

“It makes you a bit jealous that you’re not working in Leinster’s recruitment department!” Baxter said.

“I know (current Newcastle Falcons boss) Steve Diamond once, said it depends what shop you go shopping in: is it Waitrose or is it Aldi?”

He added: “It might be Fortnum and Mason depending on how you want to look at it!”

‘Why can’t we do it’ – Premiership boss ‘jealous’ of Leinster after Jordie Barrett signing

Baxters wants the Premiership to set lofty ambitions rather than call for a more even playing field when the sides face off in the Champions Cup with Leinster and Top 14 clubs having bigger budgets for their playing squads.

“If Irish rugby, Leinster and the United Rugby Championship can get their house in order to allow them to invest in players, their programme and their coaches like they do, you have to say fair play,” he said.

“My response would be, ‘let’s not try to say it’s not fair and limit Leinster, let’s look to ways we can get to that level of competition with them’.

“You can look around and say, ‘Let’s stop everyone else doing it because we can’t do it’. Or you go, ‘what are they doing to develop that level of interest and finance and why can’t we do it?’

“I don’t think it’s bad for these competitions to have world-class players. What we want to find out is ways that we can do it as well.

“You have to work to make the competition look attractive and the way the game is played look attractive.

“To get that deal in place to sign a player you have to get a lot of financial bits and pieces right – and that runs right from the top of the game to the bottom in the country.

“There’s a lot we have to do to get to that level, but why shouldn’t we be aiming for it? That’s what we should be trying to do.”

Two Premiership clubs are still in the running for the EPCR’s elite prize, with Harlequins and Northampton Saints reaching the Investec Champions Cup semi-finals.

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Regrowing the Premiership

Baxter believes that the Premiership is currently a “developing competition” following the pandemic and the collapse of three teams reducing the league to just ten teams.

But he is confident that the competition can regrow into an elite league once again.

“Two sides in the semi-finals is obviously fantastic. We want to expose the Premiership to as many new viewers as we can, for obvious reasons. Whether we make it a regular occurrence, that’s the challenge,” the director of rugby said.

“The Premiership is expected to be a developing competition again. We’ve had to do a lot of things around Covid and the financial situation in the country.

“We’ve had to make some adjustments but we will hope as a competition that we will regrow ourselves over the coming period as well.”