Exeter boss Rob Baxter says Premiership clubs are facing their worst time of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Sale were forced to forfeit their final game of the season with Worcester after 27 positive tests in a week.

Infection rates have risen across the country, with Exeter now a hotspot having been a low-risk area through much of the outbreak.

"For a lot of rugby clubs around the country we're probably at our most dangerous period," he told BBC Sport.

Exeter now has around 283 cases per 100,000 people, putting it in the top 20 places in the country, after an outbreak centred around the city's university.

Baxter added: "The danger of a player picking up an infection and failing a test just through going into a shop is far greater now in Exeter than it was at any time through lockdown.

"I can easily see for a few weeks where rugby clubs could actually end up having two or three cases a week that we need to manage.

"If you're talking about what regulations you want in place it's got to be one that protects people and the players but also allows, with proper isolation of those infected players, a squad to potentially continue functioning."
Baxter calls for Covid rule changes

Baxter says the rules around positive tests should be amended, with a set number triggering a postponement.

"Probably the regulations were based around an ability to put a team on the field, rather than the wider health implications," he said.

"I imagine because of what's happened at Sale there'll be some addition to the regulations next season based on a particular number of positive tests will mean a forfeit of a fixture."

But Baxter was keen to stress that he felt that rules brought in by Premiership Rugby in order to restart the league in August after a five-month hiatus have worked well.

Sale's game against Worcester and Northampton's fixture with Gloucester on the final day of the season were the only games to be postponed, with Saints players having to self-isolate having been in contact with Sale in their match a few days earlier.

"As a set of regulations into a completely unknown quantity, they've pretty much done their job," he said.

"What's highlighted now is there probably needed to be another line or another paragraph of regulation saying that PRL call an independent medical board in the case of a multiple outbreak - say more than four, five, six, whatever number they want it to be, and a decision will get made over the cancellation or postponement or awarding of points.

"Now we might need to add in that paragraph and I suspect that's what'll happen before we start the new season."