Jack Nowell, Henry Slade and Luke Cowan-Dickie sign new deals with Exeter Chiefs

Exeter Chiefs have confirmed that England internationals Jack Nowell, Henry Slade and Luke Cowan-Dickie have penned new two-year deals with the Gallagher Premiership club.

All the three players were part of Exeter's Academy set-up and have racked up over 100 appearances each for the first-team while helping the club to their maiden Premiership title in 2017.

“I know people have been waiting to hear the news on these three guys for quite a while,” said Baxter to the official website of Exeter Chiefs.

“However, the truth is the talk on their extensions started pretty early and that they have gone quite simply.

“I know sometimes it must seem a little difficult when there is a lot of paper talk about players leaving or interest being shown in them, but all three guys said right from the beginning that their intentions were to stay at Exeter and that they wanted to stay with us long term.

“All it really came down to is just finding that right balance in that they feel appreciated here, and we feel that they are right value for us.

"To be fair, that was relatively simple, so we are delighted to keep them and we are hoping they can be a core element of what the team can go on to achieve over the next five or six years.”

Slade joined Exeter Chiefs in 2011 from Plymouth Albion and has featured in 17 Tests for England since his international debut in 2015 while Nowell has played for Redruth and Plymouth Albion before his move to the Sandy Park while going on to make 31 Tests appearances including two for the British and Irish Lions.

Cowan-Dickie has been with Exeter since 2010 and has made seven Test appearances for the red rose team in the last three years.

With Scotland's Stuart Hogg also set to join the club ahead of next season, Baxter is surely building a strong squad aiming consistency while keeping in mind the Premiership salary cap constraint.

“It’s never got to a stage with these players where they expect to have the absolute top contracts available to them in the Premiership,” explained Baxter.“They all understand we have a strong group of players here at the club and that means across that group, that money has to be shared out accordingly.

“If they want to be part of a strong group, you kind of have to make that decision.If you want to be the biggest earner at a club, most times you have to move and go to a club that targets one of two players to be their top flight players.For our lads, we feel we look after them quite well.

“Now, I’m not going to run away from the fact that we spend to the salary cap, so what we spent on this group is spent, and nothing much can change.

"The good thing in this case is that negotiations with all three of them went relatively simply because they wanted to stay – and when a player wants to stay, all you have to do is find that happy ground where they feel appreciated and as a club you feel appreciated as well. That’s when you come to an agreement like we have in these cases.

“What’s important now for all of us is that over these next few years we give all of them an opportunity for to enjoy their ambitions, which is ultimately to be successful and to try and win things.

"They’ve obviously bought into the club for the next two years and now we have to buy into them and help them achieve what they want to achieve.”