Rob Baxter hits out at rivals ‘using Worcester crisis’ as excuse to oppose salary cap rise
Rob Baxter, the Exeter Chiefs director of rugby, has revealed his frustration at rival Gallagher Premiership clubs using the financial collapse of Worcester Warriors as an excuse to oppose a salary cap increase at the risk of losing international players overseas.
The league's cap was reduced to £5 million after Covid ravaged clubs' finances, and it is due to rise back to £6.4m for the beginning of the 2024-25 season after only four clubs were required to back the plan to force them through.
But an unwillingness to expedite that hike among certain clubs has left Baxter "slightly annoyed" given that Exeter will lose their No 8, Sam Simmonds, to Montpellier at the end of this season, with other off-contract stars – England’s Jack Nowell among them – considering moves abroad.
"I do get slightly annoyed by clubs that use the position that Worcester are in to say: 'It's not fair for a number of clubs to want the salary cap to go up.'," Baxter said.
"There is absolutely nothing that says they would have to spend more than they are spending now. If a team are happy to spend £5 million and they feel that's good for their business, then there's nothing to stop them from continuing that.
"I'm quite happy to say that because we might be in a position where Tony [Rowe, Exeter chief executive and chairman] says to me: 'Rob, we can't spend up to the salary cap at the moment.' But I don't think we'd be a club that would try and resist [a rise] because we think it's progressive for the game and for the Premiership in Europe."
‘Exeter spent years not spending to the cap’
Baxter believes that Exeter's rags-to-riches story – the Chiefs were promoted to the Premiership for the first time in 2010 before winning two Premiership titles and the Champions Cup within 10 years – is evidence that a club does not need to spend beyond its means in order to be successful. Exeter did not spend fully up to the cap in their first six seasons in the Premiership.
"One of my big frustrations is a certain number of clubs saying, if the cap goes up, that it will put them in financial problems, as if they have to spend up to it," Baxter added. "It won't. I can say that honestly because we spent years not spending to the cap. We didn't sit here and fall apart as a business and not be progressive, we just had to look at things in a different way.
"For clubs to continue to bleat about the cap being the problem is to run away from the issue which is, if a business spends too much money, you get yourself in trouble.
"To grow on the field, you have to grow as a business. You put the two hand in hand. Maybe I'm being naive but that's what we went through. We grew the business as we grew what we spent on the field, and the two went hand in hand.
"You have to try and grow your income streams as a business as your outgoings grow. Every business in the world has to do that. Why is Premiership Rugby different and that businesses don't align with what's happening on the field? It's no wonder we have clubs in trouble - and it's nothing to do with the salary cap.
"Are we seriously going to say that if we raised the salary cap to £20m then every club in the league would go bankrupt overnight because they'd spend up to it? That's what some clubs are saying."
‘We have to be progressive… there are a lot of nuances’
Baxter, 51, also rebuked any suggestion that an increase in the cap would lead to a discrepancy in standard on the field.
"If that is the argument... Newcastle beat Bristol at the weekend," Baxter said. "Newcastle are not spending up to the cap now and Bristol have two marquee players [and are up to the cap], so the gap in salaries between the two is probably nearer 25 per cent even now.
"I'm not arguing for a massive salary cap, I'm arguing that we have to be progressive. Is the only thing that matters how competitive the Premiership is, and not being competitive in Europe? Do we want to lose players who are still playing at international level because our cap cannot compete with France? There are a lot of nuances to the argument.
"It's becoming a major focus at the moment but no one ever said to Worcester they had to spend as much money on their players as they did. They were never forced. The financial problems at Worcester have happened away from their spending on players."
Baxter also addressed the uncertainty surrounding Nowell, with the England wing admitting on Monday that he was considering a move to France.
"If Jack chooses to go, that's fine," Baxter said. "That will be his decision. But, if you asked 99 per cent of Premiership rugby players who are out of contract at the end of the season: 'Would you consider going to France?' 99 per cent of them would say yes.
"Jack, as every other player does, has looked at other options every time he's off contract. If [our offer] isn't what he wants at this time then he will go, and that's the life decision he will make.
"But, the flip of it is, it is harder fitting him into a £5 million cap as an international. And the same doesn't exist in France.
"He'll stay if he wants to extend his England career. That's his biggest driver."
