Exeter Chiefs boss Rob Baxter says absent stars have hit Premiership title bid
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The last of England and Lions lock Jonny Hill's six Premiership games this season came in the defeat at Harlequins on 8 January
Exeter boss Rob Baxter says the absence of several of his top players through injury has been a contributor to their poor Premiership season.
The Chiefs are sixth in the Premiership and could will miss out on the play-offs for the first time since 2016.
British and Irish Lions players such as Sam Simmonds, Luke Cowan-Dickie and Jonny Hill have played just a handful of league games this season.
"We had lots of challenges in the first half of the season," Baxter said.
"We had an incredible injury list, we had players away for all kinds of reasons.
"It was interesting looking through some stats yesterday and we've had a lot of players that haven't played double-figure games for us, and influential players," he told BBC Radio Devon.
Cowan-Dickie has played just four times in the league this season because of injury and international call-ups
England and Lions hooker Cowan-Dickie has played just four Premiership games, Hill six and Simmonds nine, while Scotland lock Jonny Gray has made just six league appearances, England winger Jack Nowell nine and centre Henry Slade 12.
Simmonds, Cowan-Dickie and Hill all missed the first three weeks of the season after going on the Lions tour to South Africa last summer, and all are currently out with injuries.
Back-up players such as Jacques Vermeulen and Will Witty have also missed significant periods with injury.
Exeter have finished first or second in the top flight in every season since 2016, but know they must beat Bristol and champions Harlequins in their final two games - and hope Northampton and Gloucester slip up - if they are to have any chance of a return to Twickenham for a seventh successive season.
"There's quite a big tale to the season around those kind of things, but at the same time we were in some games that we lost by just a few points through the course of the season, and we only need a handful of those to go in and it's a different tale," added Baxter.
"We are where we are, that's our making and now we've just got to make the best of it."