Exeter Chiefs boss Rob Baxter admits that he was ready to step in and offer Luke Cowan-Dickie the chance of staying at Sandy Park after his move to Montpellier fell through.
The England and Lions hookers signed a one-year deal with Premiership finalists Sale, but Baxter said he wouldn’t have left him high and dry without a club.

But he points out that he warned Cornwall-born Cowan-Dickie, 30, that any deal that the cash-strapped Chiefs put on the deal on the table wouldn’t be as much as his previous deals. It wasn’t needed, however, when the Sharks moved to sign him up for the new campaign...