England
Rob Baxter rules himself out of England coaching role
ESPN Staff
December 3, 2015
© David Rogers/Getty Images

Rob Baxter has poured cold water on reports linking him with a role in Eddie Jones' England coaching team.

The Exeter head coach has emerged as a popular choice to work with Jones, who has been tasked with ensuring there is a viable successor when he steps down after the 2019 Rugby World Cup.

However, Baxter -- who has a contract with the Chiefs until 2018 -- does not believe the role of assistant is currently right for him.

"Personally I don't think there is any chance of it happening," Baxter told the Telegraph. "I don't believe an assistant coaching role at this stage in my career is for me with where I am and what I want to do with Exeter.

"I don't know if the route into other things for me is going into an international environment and working under another head coach. Personally, I'm not 100 percent sure that that route into international coaching for me is as an assistant coach.

"I've worked as a head coach with people around me for quite a long time. It's very easy to say, 'oh put these guys together', but it doesn't always work like that.

"The thing I would be comfortable with if I were to move into a head coaching position would be to be responsible for picking the people I am working with. And I'd want to be responsible if I got it wrong for selection, and be responsible for mistakes I might make. I would want to be responsible for decisions I take."

Baxter favoured an English appointment when Stuart Lancaster stepped down last month, but says now that Jones is in place that he needs to work with people he feels comfortable with.

He added: "The truth of the matter is that a head coach position is only as good as the quality of the people you put around you.

"For me personally, I struggle to think he would suddenly start looking at people he has never worked with before, never met or got no experience of.

"Certainly I think I would be uncomfortable doing that."

© ESPN Staff

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