Exeter accuse Northampton of mind games over propping injury crisis
Exeter director of rugby Rob Baxter has accused Northampton of playing “mind games” over their propping injury crisis before their Champions Cup quarter-final on Sunday.
On Thursday morning Northampton were granted special dispensation by tournament organisers European Professional Club Rugby to sign Alex Seville from Gloucester on emergency loan after all their four senior loosehead props suffered injuries. That left Emmanuel Iyogun, a 19-year-old with just one Premiership appearance, as their only fit loosehead prop which led Chris Boyd, the director of rugby, to speculate that the match would go to uncontested scrums if Exeter went full bore with their international tighthead pairing of Harry Williams and Tomas Francis.
“At the end of the day, if Manny plays and we get someone of lesser quality the attitude Exeter take into the game at scrum time will decide whether it goes to uncontested scrums or not,” said Boyd who added that Leicester prop Dan Cole had been a “little bit kind” to Iyogun on his Premiership debut.
While Baxter had no objection to Northampton registering Seville due to their injury crisis, 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 that I am talking about because what does it mean? 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 scrum if we don’t push.
“It is just a weird comment all round because the reason should be able to go to uncontested scrums is for injured players. So what are they saying? I don’t quite understand that. It is a bit of a throwaway comment at this stage in the week. For what reason is it made? It is pretty obvious what reason it is made; it is to create some kind of an influence on some kind of a situation.”
Baxter also pointed out that Seville played against Exeter recently without any issues and that just two weeks ago Chiefs tighthead prop Alfie Petch made his debut as a replacement against Northampton. “He had not played a minute of Premiership Rugby, 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 the games anyway.
“We are very aware we need to isolate ourselves from it and do what we do because we are very aware it is a Heineken Cup quarter final, it is not a pre-season friendly, and we have all got to get on with it.”
Seville has never started a Premiership match but the 22-year-old has made 10 appearances as a replacement. Even if Northampton expressed their relief that they were able to bring in Seville, there remains considerable frustration at how long the process took having first contacted EPCR on September 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 and visa restrictions.
“We are pleased that EPCR have adopted a sensible approach in today’s ruling,” Mark Darbon, Northampton Saints 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, especially with all of the Covid-19 related measures in place, we would like to thank Gloucester Rugby who have agreed to loan us their 22-year old loosehead prop, Alex Seville, on a short-term basis until the end of September.
“Alex will join up with the squad on Friday and will be available for our European Champions Cup quarter-final match on Sunday. We are also grateful to Exeter Chiefs for the pragmatism they have shown in supporting today’s decision.”
