Baxter's anger at Bath loss

By Mark Stevens

Exeter Chiefs head coach Rob Baxter admitted he was left feeling "angry" after he saw his side slip to yet another narrow Aviva Premiership defeat.

A week after going down 17-16 to league leaders Northampton Saints, the Chiefs were again undone on home soil as visiting Bath took the spoils 27-23 in a hard-fought Westcountry derby.

Ollie Devoto, Kyle Eastmond and Nick Abendanon bagged Bath's tries, whilst fly-half George Ford weighed in with the remainder of their points courtesy of three conversions and two penalties.

The Chiefs played their part in front of a record crowd of 10,745 as Gareth Steenson converted tries from Ben White (pictured) and Ian Whitten, as well as adding three penalties on the day.

It was, however, not enough to sink a Bath side, which were able to extend their unbeaten run to 11 games since Exeter were promoted into the top flight in 2010.

"It's a big disappointment for us," said Baxter post-match. "Again the guys have put in a huge, physical effort, but that is something you demand and expect if you want to be a decent Premiership side.

"Right now I'm a bit angry because I've seen us do a few things today that I'm not even sure why we've done that. We actually did some things that we haven't practised, let alone talked about, and they seemed to creep in to our game a little too often. I've just told the guys that they have to take responsibility for that.

"That can be frustrating, but at the same time I know that is also the process we have to go through. Decision-making under pressure is the hardest part of the whole thing and I understand it will take a bit of time, but I am getting a bit frustrated and a bit annoyed that we are not doing it a bit quicker.

"I say that simply because the truth is if we were a couple of steps ahead of where we are now, we'd probably be comfortably in the top half of the table and maybe challenging the top four."

Baxter added: "Credit to Bath today, they're a very good side. They are probably the form team in the Premiership right now with lots of very good players. I'm not taking anything away from them, but if you want to beat them - you have to look at yourself and today we've been hurt more by things we've done ourselves, rather than them.

"As I've just said to the guys in the changing rooms, if you want to be a top-flight Premiership rugby player, if you want to drive this team to regularly being in the top half and being in the top four, then you can't just wander around saying that we've had another close game.

"You have to take responsibility for the little things because they are just hurting us. Someone has to stand there, take responsibility and get that little bit of organisation."

With Saracens away next on the agenda for the Chiefs this Sunday, Baxter knows the task of getting back on track is far from easy. However, he intends to use the coming week to prepare his troops accordingly for battle at Allianz Park.

"I can stand here and say everything is OK, don't worry guys and lets continue to enjoy working hard and doing what we do will be enough. Yes, it's enough if you want to be a half decent Premiership side, but if you want to move on, it's not about lifting them, it's about them understanding that level of work rate and effort and some of the good stuff that we did has to be there as a norm.

"For us to move forward, we have got to bang in those two or three moments which, currently, mean we are not winning these close games. That's what we talk about and we'll work on this week in the build-up to what is another very big game at Saracens."