Baxter hails his troops

By Mark Stevens

Exeter Chiefs director of rugby Rob Baxter believes his side are the team to be feared after moving to the top of the Aviva Premiership Rugby table.

Despite trailing 12-3 early on against Gloucester Rugby, the Chiefs roared back to lead 22-12 by the interval through Ben White's well worked try and the kicking talents of Gareth Steenson and Henry Slade.

The visitors then had to survive a second-half onslaught at Kingsholm led by Sione Kalafamoni's try and James Hook's boot to bag their second win of the season.

And though Baxter acknowledges Exeter's stay at the top of the tree is likely to be brief, he believes their early-season form will not have gone unnoticed by their rivals around the country.

“I said to the boys in the week that we are going to have to come through battles and doing that will be very good for us,” said Baxter. “For some reason they decided to turn today into a battle having got themselves into quite a comfortable position.

“Having said that, sometimes fighting through like that can be good for you because what we can do now is have a look at this game and have a look at some of our decision-making, especially in the second half, and just learn from that. We talked a lot in the build-up to this game of how important this game was going to be for us, so to have two wins out of three, be at the right end of the table, it means we can now sit back and watch everyone else play and get a good recovery spell in before the Harlequins game next week.”

Although it was another powerful display from his team, a delighted Baxter still feels there is more to come from his squad in the upcoming weeks and months.

He continued: “Tonight’s result has meant we have kept this early part of the season really interesting for ourselves and all the lads feel they can give more. Not in terms of energy because we chucked plenty of energy at it again tonight, but there are things we are doing that I know further down the line that we will get better at. That’s exciting for us and I’ve said for a while now, these boys are going to get better.

“We are not an old team by any means, but our older guys are thriving and it’s fantastic to see. As I’ve said for a few weeks now, we are going to enjoy this season and right now there is plenty for us to enjoy out there.”

Certainly the positives were there for all to see and Baxter says the determined outlook of his players to succeed was evident, particularly in the opening quarter of the contest, when Gloucester made the most of Ian Whitten’s yellow card to score two tries including one for England winger Jonny May, which was eventually awarded after countless views by the TV match official.

Baxter said: “We weathered that storm and right now I want to have another close look at that first try because from what I saw, I’m not sure who got that ball down first for that try. That’s another interesting TMO call for us to look at because we don’t seem to get that many. I want to have a good look at it because if it takes that long to decide, there has to be an element of doubt and if there is doubt where do you go?

“Do we say we go with the attacking side or do we not?

“After that, however, our composure and the way we attacked the game and got those penalties, it was fantastic and we have got a lot of guys in our changing room who will be very satisfied with their performances. To methodically work our way back like that was a big bonus for me.”

Baxter added: Our boys are tough and that's fundamental to everything. We've shown that in the three games so far. To come away in the Premiership and win at a place like Kingsholm is fantastic. That’s four wins on the road for us in the Premiership, so please, please, please can we now try and follow that up at home with something similar.

“This is a fantastic place to come and play rugby, the atmosphere was electric and great credit to Gloucester and their supporters as this is what being in the Premiership is all about.”