Exeter Chiefs sign Bath lock Ryan Caldwell

As revealed in The Rugby Paper on Sunday, Ryan Caldwell will leave Bath and join Exeter on a one-year deal next season.
The 29-year-old Irish international lock will come in as replacement for Tom Hayes and James Hanks who retired this term while Romana Graham joined French club La Rochelle.
“It’s a great move for me and one that I am very much looking forward to,” he said. “Obviously it’s a new challenge for me in my career, but I like the brand of rugby that the Chiefs play and hopefully I can go down there and play a big part for them next season.”
“Gareth Steenson and I are good friends from back home and we played a lot together as youngsters,” he continued. “I also know Ian Whitten from my time at Ulster, so it’ll be good to have a few friendly faces to welcome me in when I join up with the rest of the guys. The team spirit you can see is great down at Exeter and it comes through so often in their performances on the pitch.”
Head coach Rob Baxter said: “People are aware that James had an injury, sustained against Bath, which meant he had to retire – and we also lost Tommy and Romana so we had to look to strengthen our lock options. Mitch Lees can play in the second row if necessary, but we primarily see him as a bigger back-row option, so we have been quite strong in the market for locks.
“Right now we might be in the market for another because if you look at who we lost and how few we had available throughout the season, we are maybe one lock light. That said, I think Ryan is a really good signing for us. I have kept an eye on him ever since he came over because we were interested in signing him when he came over from Ulster, but we were never really in the market for him.
“Since then I have watched him over a number of seasons and when he first came over he played really well for Bath. He has had some injury issues, but they are behind him and he is fit and ready to play. We feel it’s a great opportunity for Ryan to show what he can do.”