Wasps win pleases Baxter

By Mark Stevens

Exeter Chiefs head coach Rob Baxter was full of praise for his side as they continued their winning streak with a 31-15 home win over Wasps in the Aviva Premiership.

Having won at reigning champions Northampton Saints for the first time the week previous, the Chiefs backed up that success by producing another impressive display at Sandy Park.

First half tries from Jack Nowell (2) and Thomas Waldrom paved the way for their sixth league win of the season, while fly-half Gareth Steenson was his usual deadly self by adding a further 16 points with the boot.

Wasps, who played their part in an entertaining encounter, responded with tries from Rob Miller and Tom Lindsay, as well as kicks from Andy Goode and Alex Lozowski.

However, it was never enough against the Chiefs, who moved to the summit of the Premiership on Saturday night courtesy of this victory.

Post-match a delighted Baxter emphasised how important backing up the Saints victory had been for his side. He said: “I think just about the only thing that really mattered was producing a performance that was a bit more than good enough. I honestly think backing up what was a big emotional performance at Franklin’s Gardens was going to be quite difficult, I don’t think we were quite on it as much as we were last week but that’s understandable.

“We are probably a little frustrated that we didn’t force a bonus point in that final 10-15 minutes, but the reason for that was that we had to weather a storm on our five-metre line in the middle of that second half.

“That was probably the defining factor about how the rest of the second half went. The fact we weathered that meant we got back in charge and were looking for a bonus point, if we hadn’t had weathered that it would have been a pretty tense finish. I’m glad it turned out the way it did.”

Although the Chiefs failed to claim the all-important bonus point, this despite a strong close to the contest, they did dig deep during a 10-minute period of the second half when they had to survive a succession of scrums just five-metres from their line.

In that period the Devon club conceded five penalties and also lost prop Tomas Francis to the sin-bin, but they came through to win a penalty themselves and ultimately clear their lines. Scotland international tight-head Moray Low replaced winger Matt Jess when Francis was shown yellow to keep eight forwards on the pitch, with hooker Greg Bateman and loosehead Ben Moon also playing their part to get their side on the front foot again

Although some felt the Chiefs were fortunate not to leak a penalty try during that spell of the game, Baxter himself felt referee Ian Tempest was correct not to award a penalty try against his side as he felt they were the pack going forward in the scrums after Francis (pictured) went off the pitch.

“I was listening to the referee and he went through a very structured process,” said Baxter. “He went penalty, team warning, yellow card and then I think he couldn’t give a penalty try because Wasps were never going forward.

“That’s ultimately why things went for us because there were re-sets for us going forward and we turned them over at a scrum and won a penalty. It was great credit to our replacement front row, they came on and turned the tide. They got the scrum going forward and then you’re never going to be in a position where you give a penalty try because it’s not likely to happen.

“We can all argue the toss over the correctness of some of the penalties – I’ll probably look at some of them and think they’re tough pens against us and Dai Young will probably look and say they’ve not achieved some pens that were for him.”

Exeter’s latest win means they have not only reaffirmed their position at the top end of the table, but according to Baxter they have crucially built up a decent buffer between the chasing pack.

He continued: “It is great to be top of the table, but what is more important is we have put a little bit of breathing space between ourselves and the mid-table group who are chasing the top four.

“I think that what is going to happen over the next few weeks amongst the top group is going to be very interesting - and for us it is about keeping fighting and maintaining as big a gap as we can. We have another huge game next week at home to Saracens and I’ve told the players that the best part about winning is that you make every week a bigger game.

“As I said, I’m delighted that we followed up last week’s win at Northampton with a good, solid performance.”