Baxter would have liked Tuima to stay at Exeter

Exeter boss Rob Baxter says the Chiefs made the best offer they could to try and keep lock Rusi Tuima at the club.

The 25-year-old has opted to leave the Chiefs - for whom he has spent his entire professional career - in the summer to join Newcastle Falcons.

The former England Under-20 international, who has agreed a two-year deal with Red Bulls, has scored 20 tries in 74 games since his Exeter debut in 2019.

"We offered Rusi a contract, we'd have liked him to stay," Baxter told BBC Sport.

"But it's like anything, there's a level that you can go to, and every club will go through this when players who have come through their system move on.

"There's a level of what you're recruiting and what you want to keep, so for example, currently our front line lock pair are Daf [Dafydd Jenkins] and Zambo [Andrea Zambonin], so our pay structures are worked around where the players stand within the squad, it's as simple as that.

"We couldn't put as competitive offer on the table to Rusi as Newcastle could and he had to make the decision for his future and the family's future, and I can completely understand that.

"I've got no negative thoughts about it, he's still a member squad to end the season and I'm expecting him to take full part in everything.

"He's a good guy and hopefully he'll work very hard, but it's there's no negative issue from our end, it just comes down to one of those financial squad situations."

Tuima is the second Exeter player to agree a summer move to Kingston Park in the past few weeks.

Full-back Josh Hodge, who like Tuima has also had call-ups to England's 'A' side in recent seasons, will return to his former club after five years in Devon.

They are the latest recruits for the Newcastle side that have also agreed deals for New Zealand international Hoskins Sotutu and Argentina lock Franco Molina as Red Bull's investment in the squad begins to kick in.

The Austrian energy drinks giant bought the Prem club in August to add to its portfolio of sports teams around the globe.

It is an investment which Baxter feels will particularly bear fruit in the next few years.

"You would think with how things are going that their squad will be stronger, but also I think one thing that Newcastle probably haven't had quite a long period of time is the off-field investment," he added.

"Obviously for Newcastle travel is a massive element within what they have to do on a season-by-season basis and all those kind of things on all the sports science background, on the coaching numbers, there'll be lots of areas of investment that will go beyond just the squad.

"So those are the things that actually will probably, over a period of time, show the most benefit.

"You would think quite quickly there'll be a more competitive team based on what they can spend.

"But the danger of Red Bull I suppose, is that if they get all the other bits right, if you get all your academy structures right, you invest in the right areas there around the coaching and around the facilities, those are the things that year on year on year on year will build a really strong site.

"So I expect the bigger influence of Red Bull to happen in say three years time than probably in year one, but we'll have to wait and see."