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Waldrom, Williams pen new Exeter deals

Back-row forward Waldrom, joined Exeter from Leicester in 2014 and has been the Premiership's highest try-scorer in both seasons at Sandy Park.

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Former Jersey prop Williams, broke into Rob Baxter's side last season and started their Premiership Final defeat.

They join England Saxons players Don Armand, Alec Hepburn and Mitch Lees, who all agreed contracts on Sunday.

Exeter Chiefs head coach Rob Baxter says his decision to agree contract extensions with two more of his first team squad is just reward for the efforts shown by the players themselves.

“What we have done is moved quickly to extend the deals for both lads. They were both under contract for this season, but we've extended them by a year and got things done nice and early," he said.

"Tom has shown in the last couple of years that he's playing right at the top of the game, but we are still confident that physically and mentally he is still up to contributing a lot to the team and to the club.

"It's the same for Harry, he came in for his first year last season and he did extremely well.

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"There are not many guys who have come out of the Championship and found themselves playing in European quarter-finals, Premiership semi-finals, a Premiership final and done as well as he has."

Baxter, though, will not let the free-scoring No.8 rest on his laurels and has says he will have to fight for a spot in the Exeter back-row this term.

"Coming to Exeter was a good move for Tom, a good move for us and probably a good move for Leicester. He's played Premiership, Super Rugby and international rugby in the past but – and it’s happened with players here – he perhaps dropped down the rankings at Leicester and it was time for him to move on. 

Similarly, Baxter has challenged Williams – who joined at the start of last season – to raise his game with a plethora of international talent all battling it out for the tight-head spot.

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"As with a number of our lads, we looked hard at the Championship and we felt Harry had a lot of the right qualities that we craved," he continued.

"He's just done his first season with us and he showed a lot of those qualities when he featured. Now, though, he has to be prepared to work very hard again and by working hard, we are seeing him improve all the time."

Baxter has again hinted that he is close to tying up a few more of his existing squad to new deals, details of which should emerge in the coming days and weeks.

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