Baxter seeks killer instinct

A lack of killer instinct is all that is missing in Exeter Chiefs' top-six challenge this Aviva Premiership Rugby season, according to head coach Rob Baxter.

Exeter's strong start to the season is marred only by a narrow comeback defeat to Leicester Tigers in round two, but Baxter was wary the same thing could have happened on Friday night at Gloucester Rugby.

The Chiefs survived a late fightback from the Cherry & Whites, relinquishing a ten-point half-time lead to record a 25-22 victory at Kingsholm.

And Baxter admits they need to learn how to finish games sooner if they are going to threaten the play-off spots this season.

"The weekend was another great lesson for us," he told Chiefs TV. "If you work that hard to get a commanding lead going into the second-half, you can make it a lot easier for ourselves than we did.

"Some of it is decision-making, some of it is lacking a little bit of composure. As a coach I'm asking myself the question of how quickly we can get it every day.

"I think we're really comfortable with how we can make ourselves a good attacking side, how we can make ourselves a good defensive side, how we can play with fluidity, and how we can threaten and put teams under pressure.

"But what we've got to work out is how to see teams off when we really should. We should have done it last week, and we should have done it again."

Exeter next welcome Harlequins to Sandy Park on Sunday, and Baxter believes the longer break is ideal preparation for the ever-improving Chiefs.

He added: "All the positives are coming. Every week that we come through a number of players are getting closer [to full-fitness].

"Week by week we are getting stronger which is nice for us as usually we start flat out and slowly lose guys through the campaign.

"This year is feeling like we've started very well, and now we're adding guys to that we're only going to get stronger over the next month."