Baxter praises his Chiefs

By Mark Stevens

Exeter Chiefs head coach Rob Baxter spoke of his pride as he watched his team maintain their impressive start to the new Aviva Premiership Rugby season with a clinical 36-13 victory over Harlequins at Sandy Park.

Fresh from victory at Gloucester the week previous, Devon’s finest clocked up their third win in four starts to not only maintain their position in the division’s top four, but at the same time record a much-needed win on home turf

The success was only the Chiefs’ second home Premiership win in 2014, but it was fully warranted thanks to tries from Thomas Waldrom (pictured), Jack Yeandle and Henry Slade, who shared the remainder of the points with Gareth Steenson,

Harlequins replied with a converted second half try from Asaeli Tikoirotuma, as well as two penalties from fly-half Ben Botica, but it was never enough to thwart the rampant hosts.

“It was a fantastic performance,” said Baxter at the final whistle. “For a while there it looked like it was going to be a tight old affair, especially just after half time when Quins’ grabbed a bit of momentum and they put us under pressure from a length of the field break.

“During that period we became a little bit defensive and we kicked the ball away a little too much, but ultimately we showed some great energy in the end and our defensive performance, I thought, was excellent to concede only 13 points against a very good Harlequins side.”

Having completed the league double over the Chiefs last term, Harlequins certainly experienced a much tougher resistance from Baxter’s men on this occasion.

“The overall energy and vibrancy we brought to the game was excellent,” added Baxter. “And that’s all you can ask of from the players. Each week we try and perform in a way that you demand a win, especially at home, and we did that very well today.

“We talk to the players all the time that it’s rare in life you don’t get rewarded for the hard work you put in. Sometimes these tight home games we’ve lost at home over the last few years, we’ve probably felt that we didn’t get the rewards for the hard work we’ve put in.

“However, if you stick at it, you push things through and stick to our principles about what we want to try and achieve on the pitch, then big performances can happen. As I’ve just said to the players, they are getting their rewards for the hard work they are putting in. They are working extremely hard, they are very ambitious about what they want to achieve, and results like this can happen when they do it.”

With such a solid start to the season, Baxter is keen to see his players push on yet further in the coming weeks and months, starting with next week’s trip to struggling Newcastle Falcons.

The Chiefs leader believes his side’s clash with the Falcons, as well as the following week’s encounter against London Irish, will be just as important as this latest triumph over Quins.

He said: “The only way that we will know is when get through our next two matches – away to Newcastle Falcons and home to London Irish. The proof of the importance of this fixture will depend on those two results.

“If we don’t work hard, if we don’t get things right now, then this result, although great to collect some points at home and beat Harlequins, ultimately through the course of the season it doesn’t add up to very much.

“For me it seems every time you win and every time you feel you’re at the right end of the table, the next game always becomes even more important. Now there is an opportunity of a game next week that can allow us to keep pushing up around that top four because that is where we want to be.

“Right now we’ll savour this win, but we know it’s a tough week again next week for us. We’ve got a long trip to Newcastle, playing on a new surface, so we’ll get there early and have a walk around and then try and play with as much tempo and endeavour as we did today, If we do that, then we’ve got a great chance of getting some points.”

Indeed, the only real disappointment for Baxter and his team were that they didn’t manage to secure a try bonus point despite some late pressure.

“As I said, I’m massively proud of the players because they felt a bit of pressure about this so-called kind of hoodoo about not being able to see off tight games or win at home.

"This is what you learn about Aviva Premiership Rugby - you can be in a real wrestle of a game but in the end can actually be playing for a bonus-point as things break up.

"Watching the boys run back to receive the last kick-off and then go after a fourth try was very rewarding. To not only have beaten Harlequins but then be chasing down an extra point was fantastic and the boys were even disappointed we couldn't convert because we had an opportunity there at the end."