EXETER Chiefs director of rugby Rob Baxter admits Josh Iosefa-Scott is likely to leave the club for France when his contract expires next summer.

The 30-year-old tighthead has been linked with a move to Provence after six seasons at Sandy Park, although Baxter says he has yet to receive confirmation of the prop’s next destination.

Iosefa-Scott joined Exeter from Waikato in 2021 and has established himself as a key member of the Chiefs pack.

“We’ve been in contract negotiations with him and he’s got a very good offer in France,” said Baxter. “But yes, I know there’s a lot of interest for Josh in France.”

The Chiefs have offered Iosefa-Scott a new contract, but Baxter accepts the player may consider his long-term future after England A involvement.

“If he’s one or two spots higher up the England pecking order, genuinely feeling he was on the fringe of the squad, and knowing there was an EPS contract there, that changes things quite dramatically for players,” he said.

“But when he looks and goes, ‘I’ve been in the England A set-up, maybe I’m not going to make my breakthrough. Now do I start looking after my long-term career?’

“I don’t think that’s necessarily a negative for the English game. As much as we don’t want to lose Josh, it forces us to look for another EQP player because Josh is EQP.

“That’s just the natural recycling of the game.”

Baxter praised Iosefa-Scott’s development since arriving in Devon on what he described as an “opportunity-type contract”.

“He’s developed year on year and done exactly what I want every player at Exeter to do. That is to play in a way, and inside a team, that does well enough that if we can’t offer them a good enough contract, someone else can offer a better contract.

“Josh is a great example of that over the last couple of seasons, particularly last season. He was very consistent, he’s a big man and has great skills.”

Iosefa-Scott was part of Exeter’s Premiership final side last season.

“I can fully understand people having an interest in him, and he’s done a lot of hard work to get to where he is now,” said Baxter.

Should he leave, Baxter says Exeter have options at tighthead, including Ehren Painter, Jimmy Roots and Bachuki Tchumbadze.

“We may have it all covered in-house. We may look to create an opportunity for someone a little younger to come in and, as we’ve done before with Harry Williams or Tom Francis coming out of the Championship, work their way through into the Premiership.

“We’ve got options. We’re not suddenly left with nothing. Obviously there’s a market out there for tightheads becoming available. We’d like it to be an EQP player, but you have to move on and move on quickly.”

Baxter also rejected suggestions the salary cap should be increased.

“The finances in the game at the moment don’t allow us to be talking about increasing the salary cap,” he said.