Baxter frustrated at loss

By Mark Stevens

Exeter Chiefs head coach Rob Baxter says if his team want to mix it with the “big boys” of the Aviva Premiership, it’s imperative they start playing like them.

In their first game of 2015, the Chiefs slipped to a third successive top flight defeat as Gloucester emerged triumphant at a packed Sandy Park as they claimed the spoils in a 26-25 success.

After a tight first half in which the Cherry & Whites led 6-0 thanks to two Greig Laidlaw penalties, the second period was the proverbial points-fest as the lead changed six different times.

However, it was Gloucester who prevailed come the final whistle as converted tries from Tom Savage and Ben Morgan, plus further kicks from Laidlaw and skipper Billy Twelvetrees, ensured the points for the visitors.

For the Chiefs, though, it was a disappointing way to mark their 100th Premiership appearance as tries from Jack Nowell (pictured), Matt Jess and Thomas Waldrom, together with ten points from Gareth Steenson, only ensured them of a losing bonus point.

Post-match, Baxter could not hide his frustration at his side’s showing. He said: “You can take some positives out of it that we’ve played some good rugby, particularly in the first we created multiple opportunities. But creating opportunities doesn’t count for very much unless you convert them.

“When we did wrestle the momentum of the game back with two quick-fire tries the first thing we did was give it straight back to Gloucester with some very naïve exit play.

“That’s frustrating for me because it’s been a strength of our game; we’ve focused on it, we’ve worked extremely hard at it and it’s moved forward this season and when we’ve come into a game when we needed to use it it seemed to desert us.

“I’m not at a lost to know why it’s happened, it’s because we had a focus on how we wanted to attack this week – we thought we were a bit rusty at Bath when the opportunities arose so we spent a lot of time on it this week – and it’s obvious the focus from some players has slipped way too much into almost playing at all costs. Some of the stuff we did out of our 22 was chaotic and it’s cost us a game of rugby we should have won.

“I’ve just said to the lads ‘if you want to play at the end of the league where the big boys play, you have to come in and play like a big boy because teams will come after you, you become one of the big sides’. I don’t think we did that at times today, but at other times we did and showed great endeavour, but at times today we let ourselves down.”

He added: “We had that habit today of kicking balls away that we probably didn’t need to do and then not kicking when we probably should have. As I said, I know what it happened, the lads were frustrated with last week and they’ve over done it this week.

“We should have had a bit more balance, but specifically out of our 22 because Gloucester may feel that the try for Matt Jess (pictured) was a little bit breakaway, but the try they scored was also a bit of a gift for them. If you’re trying to kick from your own try-line having played three or four phases, you have to be a bit more mature and more sensible than that.”

With London Irish away next on the agenda for the Chiefs, Baxter says it’s vital his team quickly rediscover their winning formula after a tough festive period.

“I think anyone who watched the game today will tell you where the errors were,” continued the Chiefs coach. “We messed around when we were in the lead and what we needed to do was rebuild pressure. Instead we didn’t do that, we kicked away possession which led to a penalty, made it worse with the charged down try, and all of a sudden it was a big turnaround when you should have been taking control of the game.

“We know we are well placed in the league, but we have to show a real fight for it. Our physical effort and endeavour was fine today and when we look at the GPS scores and the work-rate the players put in, it will be huge because the guys put in a big shift.

“What we will be frustrated with is that we didn’t convert opportunities in the first half, but more so in the second half that when we seized the momentum of the game, we then gave it up so easily.”