Luke Arscott extends his contract with Exeter Chiefs
Exeter Chiefs head coach Rob Baxter has spoken of his delight after another member of his squad today agreed a new contract extension with the Aviva Premiership club.
Follow the lead of a number of his team-mates, full-back Luke Arscott is the latest name to commit his future to the Chiefs until the summer of 2015.
Signed by Baxter following Exeter’s promotion into the top flight back in the summer of 2010, Arscott has quickly established himself as a key figure within the Devon club’s backline.
With 63 appearances for the club, Arscott is indeed a prized asset within the Chiefs ranks and was recently linked by some media sources with Exeter's Heineken Cup rivals Clermont Auvergne.
However, the Plymouth-born back clearly sees his immediate future in Devon, much to the joy of Baxter who says he is close to agreeing terms with a number of other first-team players whose contracts are due to expire at the end of the current campaign.
"Luke signing on again is fantastic news for us," said Baxter. "He's a very good player, who is right on form at the moment. He was one of the first guys we brought in when we got promoted and since then he's been a cornerstone of our back division in our time in the Premiership.
"Watching him play this season, not just in the Heineken Cup, but also some big Premiership games, he's been in great form and what we've got to do now is make sure he maintains his form and knocks on again in the next couple of years."
Baxter added: "It will be great to have him around because he is a good guy within the squad and it kind of makes all these retention talks a lot easier as they are players we want in and around the squad as we look to move forward.
"As I've said before, I am a massive believer in continuity. Anyone who has watched Exeter for the last few years we know that and seen where that has taken us. For me, Luke has earned his starts and worked hard enough for us to say this is a guy we want to get contracted because he is a key part of what we are doing."
And as the Exeter coach predicted, a number of other players are due to follow suit in the coming days and weeks as Baxter already looks to the future.
"I'm really pleased with how the recruitment and retention side of things is going," remarked Baxter. "There won't be the huge amount of changes next season that I didn't want, so that's fantastic for us. If we do make three or four acquisitions or changeovers in the market after January 1 that'll probably be the number we'll want to make.
"We have got a lot of our out of contract players pretty much sorted now. A few have already signed on the dotted line and we've others lined up in the not distant future, so already we have the skeleton of another hugely competitive squad for next season.
"Obviously the key now is pinning down the remainder of those players and when we do go into the market, it's important we then bring in the right guys. That's the long-term process for me, but as always we will take our time on recruitment and we do that for a good reason."
