Rob Baxter expects Votu to settle in quickly with Exeter Chiefs
EXETER Chiefs boss Rob Baxter expects Fijian winger Watisoni Votu to settle in quickly when he finally completes his move to Sandy Park.
The 27-year-old has been in Exeter for the last week and club officials took him to Cardiff on Monday to process his visa application with the UK Border Agency.
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Exeter Chiefs
Head coach Baxter hopes the paperwork will be completed in the next couple of weeks to enable them to officially sign the 6ft 5ins tall, 15st 10lbs sevens international.
Votu played in all three of Fiji's matches on their recent tour, against England, an Ireland XV and Georgia.
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And Baxter hopes that will mean he will be able to name Votu in an Exeter team in the next few weeks to get him up to speed with his new teammates.
Baxter said: "Hopefully within the next fortnight we should have everything sorted and then we can look forward to seeing him in an Exeter shirt.
"He's been over here with Fiji, has been playing regularly and is in good form so it isn't like he's going to need a pre-season to get up to speed.
"We think we'll be able to involve him in whichever games we want to pretty quickly. We're hoping he'll settle in quickly."
The settling in process for Votu will be helped by the fact he is staying with fellow Fiji star Sireli Naqelevuki.
His official arrival at the Chiefs will end one of the most drawn-out signings in the club's history.
Baxter and assistant coach Ali Hepher were impressed with Votu's displays for the Fiji sevens side and made contact through his agent at the start of this year.
However, they were unable to sign him as he had not won a full cap for Fiji, which is necessary to obtain a visa to play professionally in this country.
After Votu made his debut against Japan in the Pacific Nations Cup in June, Exeter officials started getting the necessary paperwork together.
That saw the club granted a licence to finally apply for a visa two weeks ago and they moved to keep Votu in the country when Fiji's European tour was over to complete the deal.
Baxter added: "He's here in England and we took him to Cardiff on Monday to the UK Border Agency offices there, and they said they will process his tier five visa application from within the UK.
"We're hoping we've got all the relevant bits and pieces in place to get that done. We should be hearing in seven to 10 days about how successful that is."
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