So while the RFU and Premiership bosses debate whether to expand the league to 13 teams from the 2020-21 season Baxter has called for the one up, one down system to stay.

The most recent round of results over the holiday period saw the top three teams – Saracens, Sale and Harlequins – fall to the bottom three with London Irish, Newcastle and Bristol all upsetting the form-book. Exeter too was almost undone before seeing off Bath on Christmas Eve to leave their southwest rivals bottom of the table.

Relegation won’t return to the English top flight until the 2024/25 season at the earliest – a decision taken long before this term’s financial collapse of Worcester and Wasps saw both clubs expelled from the Premiership as the league was reduced to 11 teams. In the meantime, Baxter believes that, with no fear of the drop, sides are much more prepared to take chances in attack.

“The league is so different without relegation – people probably don’t quite realise that,” Baxter said.

“A perfect example is when we’ve been to Newcastle when they’ve been in the bottom two. It’s very hard to play with the ambition and desire that they play with now because there’s so much hanging on the result.”

He added: “They’re not looking over their shoulder, they’re looking upwards all the time. So now you’re never in a scenario where a team aren’t coming after you. So I think all these competitive results are going to happen more and more often. You’ll see an increasing amount of them.”