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Exeter Chiefs could be without forward Kane James for two to three months as he awaits news on the extent of an ankle injury.
The 20-year-old back-row was forced off after being tackled in the early stages of Sunday’s 31-0 European Challenge Cup win over Cardiff.
The England Under-20 player has enjoyed a breakout season, featuring in eight of the club’s nine Prem games and all four of their European matches.
“It looks likely to be a pretty serious injury,” Baxter told BBC Sport, with the club awaiting results from scans.
“Ankle injuries you’re probably talking 10-12 weeks at this stage, but we’ll fill everyone in with more details once we have the detailed scan results and have a surgeon’s opinion – then we’ll know what the operative route is likely to be.”
James, who has scored one try this season, is the latest academy player to become a fixture in the club’s frontline 23 and has impressed those at Sandy Park.
“We’ve been picking him on merit – it’s not part of a development process, he’s been there because he’s been one of the better players,” added Baxter.
“That [the injury] is frustrating for us, and clearly frustrating for him because he’s broken into the first team and started a very important game for us, and it’s not taken long before he’s had to come off with a significant injury.
“The problem is with these really good ball carriers who are capable of breaking tackles, they’re the kind of injuries they pick up over their career where people are catching them from behind and dropping onto their legs, and they’ve got good leg drive so they don’t accept tackles.
“The flip side of it is, and you’ve got to try to find positives in everything, it does give him a block of development in other areas. He’s a young man, he can spend some decent time in the gym and in other areas.
“Our medical team and our rehab teams here are very good and it’s very rare guys don’t come out of these kind of periods bigger, stronger, fitter, faster so that’s going to be his aim over the next period.”
