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Exeter Chiefs boss Rob Baxter admits the new signing, All black people center Dallas McLeod, who arrived in Devon late last week, will not make his debut in the away PREM Rugby Cup at Bath at Sandy Park this weekend.
McLeod, 26, won his only Test cap with a 41-minute cameo off the bench for Braydon Ennor in the 23-20 Bledisloe Cup win Australia in Dunedin in August 2023 and is in full training with the others Bosses squad.
But Baxter says he’s holding him back for at least another week after playing non-stop this year Crusaders in Super Rugby and then assists Canterbury win the NPC finals Northland at the end of last month.
“He’s in the game now, but obviously he played a lot of minutes by the end of the NPC. So we’re not in a rush to get him on the court. So we’re just slowly building up his practice time.”
“But our expectation is that he will be available during the Prem Cup period, whether it’s week two or week three. But what we don’t want is to put a guy in for 24 hours, a bit stiff, a bit sore and playing a lot of rugby.
“We’re in no rush to throw him on the field and hurt him. We’re trying to get him up to speed the right way and then we can let him go,” Baxter said
Baxter says winger Paul Brown-Bampoe will make his first start of the season on Saturday following a heel injury, while late summer signings Obinna Nkwoch, André Goedhals and Carwyn Tuipulotu could also feature.
“Paul is now in full training. You know it’s a bit of a shame, we could have used him a few weeks ago but he’s back to all his markers.”
“Ehren Painter has been out for a long, long time. And even though he played in the preseason, this is the right game for him to step in, and we can see where he’s at.
“Obinna Nkwocha, we are really looking forward to seeing him and André Goedhals.”