Exeter Chiefs director of rugby Rob Baxter says there has to be an economic benefit to keep the South African teams in the Champions Cup, ahead of the clash with the Vodacom Bulls.

Exeter will host the Vodacom Bulls in the second round of the Champions Cup on Saturday and will travel to Pretoria for the reverse fixture in January 2023.

South African teams are taking part in the tournament for the first time, having qualified after their inaugural season in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship.

“If we get a great crowd and it’s a really good game, then for obvious reasons we can probably start saying there’s a value to it,” Baxter told BBC Radio Devon.

“The flip of that is the expense of travelling to South Africa for a week is big and everyone’s aware of the economic climate, particularly in the Premiership at the moment.

“I also thought the Champions Cup was pretty good as it was, I don’t know if it needed adding to much.

“But the bigger issue is once the URC admitted South African sides it becomes slightly weird to have the next competition not involving teams that are in that competition, but involving other sides in that competition.

“Will it add to it? It’s hard to tell, we’ll see at the weekend.”

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“It’s like anything, it sounds great in theory, but it has to create revenue as well,” Baxter added.

“There’s no point if the logistics and travel drain revenue from what is a good competition, then we’ve got to look at it seriously, because at the moment that’s got to be one of those deciding factors.

“You can’t lose money in competitions, there’s got to be a value, which also means we’ve got to see a value in our crowd this weekend.

“If this game attracts a bumper sell-out for the season, that obviously considerably changes the view on it.”

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