Photo: Exeter Rugby Club / Pinnacle Photo Agency

Vainikolo joins the Chiefs

Exeter Chiefs may have just brought the curtain down on their 2012/13 campaign, but already head coach Rob Baxter is looking to next term with the acquisition of Fetu'u Vainikolo.

The Tongan international is the latest newcomer added to the playing ranks at Sandy Park, having agreed a two-year deal from RaboDirect Pro12 side Connacht this week.

With not only seven international caps to his name, the 28-year-old winger arrives having previously featured for not only the Irish outfit, but also the Highlanders in the Super Rugby structure and Kiwi provincial sides Northland and Otago.

Baxter has made no secret of his desire to stregthen his options out wide, especially with the clubs saying farewells this season to the likes of Mark Foster, Josh Tatupu and Gonzalo Camacho, so Vainikolo's arrival is a massive boost to the Devon club who last weekend booked their spot in the Heineken Cup for a second successive season.

“People are aware we’ve got quite a lot of backs leaving so we have had to add some players in there, with Tom James signing and now we’ve signed Fetu’u," said Baxter. “He was maybe off a few people’s radar, but he's a high-quality player.

“We’ve looked a lot at a lot of his games and the key for us is we think ‘this is where he is now, playing for Connacht, where would he be playing within our system and getting the touches on the ball we would hope they would get if they played with us?’

“He’s a guy who’s scoring tries and having game-breaking moments without always seeing that much of the ball. For us it’s about how much more we can potentially get him in the game, if he’s more involved in the game how many more of those moments will he have?

“He’s the kind of guy who can scores tries a little bit out of nothing, he’s a got an add-on of pace that’s a bit different to what some players. He is steppy and quick and strong immediately in the contact environment, but he can also light the afterburners from what we’ve seen."

In the past 12 months the Chiefs have underlined their attacking intent in not only the Aviva Premiership, but also the Heineken and LV= Cup competitions, and Baxter is keen for that to continue with the arrival of Vainikolo to the region.

He added: “We think that with us he’ll get a few more touches of the ball than he’s been getting and that’ll bring him more into the game. We are a team that’s an attacking side and you want to have quality attacking players if that’s how you want to play.

“We see him coming in and working in a very good group of back-three players that we’ve got now. Matt Jess had fantastic season, Jack Nowell is really starting to shine and come through and we’ve got Tom James coming in, who is a really good finisher and very good at beating that first defender. Fetu’u will fit in there and make a real fight with those guys having a bit of everything – steppy, quick, powerful but can also have an X-factor about him.

“We want to make it very competitive in as many positions as we can on the pitch. It’s going to be difficult picking starting players out of that group. You look how Matt Jess and Nowellsy have been playing these last few weeks, you’re going to have to be a pretty good winger to break in there."

However, having run the rule over Vainikolo closely, the Exeter coaching team believe they have an exciting talent to unleash in English rugby's top flight next season.

“Fetu’u came over, showed up really well in his physical testing, the talks we had with him all went very well, I think he’s very enthusiastic to try something different and play in the Premiership and play on a wide pitch at Sandy Park and get plenty of ball," said Baxter.

“He’s going to go back now and play for Tonga in the Pacific Nations Cup so he’ll join up with us a little bit later than the other guys and he’s going to have a good old fight on his hands to get into a team that’s currently playing very well and has some quality on-form players.”

As well as the arrival of Vainikolo, Baxter is hopeful of adding at least a couple more players to his cause before pre-season resumes in all it's glory next month.