Christ Tshiunza: Wales forward could leave Exeter this summer

Wales forward Christ Tshiunza could leave Exeter this summer, according to director of rugby Rob Baxter.

The 24-year-old’s contract expires at the end of the season and he has yet to agree a new deal.

Reports have linked him with a move to Cardiff in the United Rugby Championship.

“He is off contract at the end of this season with us and we haven’t re-signed him currently, so those rumours could be entirely true, but I couldn’t tell if they are,” Baxter said.

Tshiunza joined Exeter as a teenager and was a shock call-up to the Wales squad for the 2021 Autumn internationals.

He has gone on to win 13 caps for his country in an injury-hit career and was part of the Wales squad at the last Rugby World Cup.

But he has made just one Prem appearance this season when he broke his foot in the opening day draw at Northampton in September.

But as a non-English Qualified Player (EQP) Tshiunza’s appearances could be limited next season with the return of Georgia forward Nika Abuladze.

Prem clubs are limited to an average of eight non-EQP players per game, which Baxter says in a consideration when looking at the make-up of his squad.

“Our EQP numbers are quite tight, and making sure that we have that balance in the squad because for us it’s very, very important we keep the funding for the EQP balance.,” he said.

“When you look at the make-up, particularly around our forwards, where our front-line players are, especially when you see guys like Bachuki Tchumbadze coming through, who obviously is non-EQP, we’ve signed Nika Abuladze who is obviously non-EQP.

“To make our front-line pack of forwards as strong as we have, at some stage EQP becomes quite an important factor for us.

“Obviously with Zambo [Andrea Zambonin] going well, with Daf [Dafydd Jenkins] in the second row, Tom Hooper going well in the back row, we start to fill up our non-EQP quota pretty quickly.”