ROB Baxter’s squad building for next season continued today with news that prop Josh Iosefa-Scott has agreed a new two-year deal with the Gallagher Premiership club.

The New Zealand-born forward moved to Sandy Park in 2021 and after a slow start to life in Devon, he has since established himself as a formidable force with the Exeter front-row.

At 145kgs, his bulk is certainly a key component of his game, but Baxter believes there is ‘more to come’ from the 28-year-old, who has previously represented England A and harbours hopes of one day featuring at full Test level.

“You look at what has been a challenging season for us, but he’s been one of the success stories,” said the Chiefs’ Director of Rugby. “He had to get over a relatively serious injury for a prop at the end of last season - and he was probably still feeling the effects of that at the start of this season, but as games have gone on, he’s really developed momentum in the way he’s playing.

“He’s now up and running and he’s probably our number one first choice at this time. He’s a big guy, a good rugby player, and someone with a lot of potential as well. I think with Ross McMillan coming in, the work he’s done with Rob Hunter on set-piece, it’s starting to become a real strength of his. We see him being a player that is going to grow and grow.

“He’s already had some involvement with the England A squad, but the next step we foresee for him is to move forward to be one of the top tightheads in the Premiership. We’d like to try to help him fulfil his ambitions of international rugby, which we certainly see as being an achievable goal for him in the future.

“Hopefully we can move forward together to develop him and the team. We certainly feel he’s got a bright future here and that he could really become one of the cornerstones to helping our team achieve in the coming seasons.”

The decision by Iosefa-Scott to remain in Devon is timely, particularly with Ehren Painter set to be sidelined for a few months yet with an ACL injury, while Marcus Street confirmed earlier this week that he will be leaving the club at the end of the campaign to join rivals Saracens on a two-year deal.

“I’d like to think that Josh will be one of the cornerstones of what we are trying to achieve in the future,” added Baxter, who added that he is still working on finalising deals for a number of new recruits, including Australian internationals Julian Heaven, Jake Gordon and Len Ikitau.

South African hooker Joseph Dweba is another on Baxter’s wanted list, while discussions over new terms for current Chiefs, Jack Yeandle, Jack Innard, Jacques Vermeulen, Stu Townsend and Olly Woodburn are continuing.

Iosefa-Scott said: “It was a pretty easy decision for me to re-sign. The environment is strong and the lads we have here are unbelievable. From this season we can grow, and I think we can achieve a lot of good things, so I want to be a part of that.”