Baxter praises departing Chief

Exeter Chiefs head coach Rob Baxter has today expressed his sadness at the news that former club captain Tom Hayes has been forced to retire from the game with immediate effect.

Irishman Hayes has confirmed a long-standing back injury has brought to an end his five-year stint with the Devon club – and that he will now be seeking a new challenge away from the professional game.

For Baxter, the departure of the experienced 33-year-old – who has amassed 136 games and six tries for the Chiefs – is certainly an untimely blow for the club, but instead of reflecting too much on the loss, he was instead quick to pay tribute to Limerick-born forward.

“Tom has been a big part of our journey out of the Championship and then into the Premiership,” said Baxter. “He has been there every step of the way, both as a player and as a captain, so obviously him leaving like this is a big loss for us. That said, I always try and look on the bright side of things and he has been part of the club’s movement during what has been a very successful period for us.

“In years to come people will look back at this period and he will be one of those guys that will go down in history as being part of the team that not only helped us get out of the Championship and into the Premiership, but then got us into the Amlin and the Heineken Cups and really helped to establish us as a club.”

Baxter added: “It’s always bad when a player has to retire prematurely from rugby because of injury, but at the same time he has had a good innings with us and he’s enjoyed some very good times with Exeter. Tom has been a big part of what we’ve done; he’s played a lot of game minutes at a very crucial time; and he’s led us in some of the biggest games the club has ever played.

“I’m sure we will see plenty of him around the club and I can’t give him too much credit for what he has done. He epitomises a lot of what we are about here at the club, he’s hardworking, he’s gets on with things without too much fuss and he will always dig deep when you need him most.”

And it was those characteristics which Baxter says came through in spades during his years as captain of the club.

He continued: “What I’ve liked about working with Tom is that he has a really good understanding of the game and good tactical knowledge of what is going on out there. He’s level headed and doesn’t let one good or one bad result influence things too much, he just turns up each day and gets on with it. Over the years we’ve had a good group of players like Tom, who play 80 minutes at the weekend, but then they are back in first thing on Monday for training and their raring to go again.

“Of course he will be missed within the playing group, but we’ve known about Tommy’s injury for a while and that is why we have brought in some extra second row cover this season. It was also one of the reasons why Dean Mumm took over the captaincy as we were not quite sure of Tommy’s availability.

“It’s like anything, you will always lose a little bit of something when a good player calls it a day, but there will always be changes in sport and that’s when a different influence within the group comes into play.”