Baxter hails Chiefs' display

Exeter Chiefs head coach Rob Baxter admits he couldn't have asked for much more from his troops as they bounced back from defeat in style against Gloucester at Kingsholm.

While the Cherry & Whites were in buoyant mood for this clash at Kingsholm following back-to-back victories, the Chiefs made the short journey to Gloucester having lost 21-9 to Leicester Tigers in front of their home fans last time out.

However, it was Exeter's turn to upset the home crowd as a Ben White try and Gareth Steenson's boot had the visitors leading 13-5 at half-time, cancelling out Martyn Thomas' first-ever Aviva Premiership try in reply.

After the interval captain Dean Mumm helped himself to his third try of the campaign, while Steenson kept the scoreboard ticking over from the kicking tee as he finished the contest with a healthy 19-point haul.

Gloucester replacement Jonny May did add another try for the home side in the second half but Baxter, whose side ran out 29-12 winners, was more than happy with the response his team showed following their home loss to the Tigers.

"That was a bit more like it," said Baxter afterwards. "All I think we did was carry on where we started in the second half against Leicester. I kind of knew that performance was in us and it was just about the lads having the confidence to go out and do it and the freedom to let themselves play.

"When we play we are a very good side. I'm not saying that is the only way to play rugby, but for us that suits us and is comfortable.

"I thought the players' response was absolutely magnificent. When you have lost a game of rugby the hardest thing to do is go out and play but we turned up here and from minute one we played.

"That shows great courage from the players and I am always happy when they show a bit of bravery and they go for it because you can't ask for much more and the thing with us is that it tends to bring us results.

"So we are very happy with the result. It makes the table look a lot nicer because in the morning we were one off the bottom and now we are mid-table."

Despite taking the scalp of Northampton Saints at Kingsholm, this was the second time Gloucester have tasted defeat in front of their home fans - having also lost their season opener to Sale Sharks.

But director of rugby Nigel Davies admits his Cherry & Whites could have no complaints about the result, admitting they came off second best in almost every department.

"Fair play to Exeter, they were by far the better team and I couldn't really say where we gained any ascendancy because we didn't," Davies said.

"We coughed up the ball far too easily which meant we couldn't get our game going for large parts. And they didn't do that. They held on to the ball and they are a very good team that plays a good brand of rugby and they look after the ball and put us under a lot of pressure.

"They got a lot of penalties from that as well and our penalty count was horrendous but it was justifiable.

"We were second best in the forwards battle. Our scrum has been OK but here it was taken apart really, particularly towards the end of the game.

"And their forward runners had a field day. They came from deep and ran hard and we didn't deal with them when they got quick ball and they won the battle to get round the corner and credit to them for putting in a very big performance."