Baxter happy with Euro response

By Mark Stevens

Rob Baxter thoughts were never on the possibility of taking over as England's head coach this past week but on his side bouncing back from last week's defeat by Ospreys to kick start their European Champions Cup.

His Exeter Chiefs side's first victory against French opposition came with a 34-19 bonus point victory over Bordeaux-Bègles on a bitterly cold night at Sandy Park after the 9,577 crowd had observed a one-minute silence in memory of those killed in Paris last week.

Baxter wasn't disappointed that England didn't give him a call when they were looking for a replacement for Stuart Lancaster, as he is perfectly happy at Exeter Chiefs, but he hopes Eddie Jones will consider some of his player in teh coming weeks.

"He has already said that he is starting with a clean sheet, thats great for the players and great for me from a coaching point of view what I am talking to our English qualified players," said Baxter.

"I'll tell them to start racking-up some points in their favour now but that normally starts with winning games and playing well. We probably didn't show ourselves in a great light last week but this week we showed more qualities that we are use to seeing.

"Human nature should save to those players that they want to impress him [Jones] and they'll want to make sure that they are playing well in these games when he first starts to look at them.

"I would like to think that any of our players who have genuine ambitions to play for England will been driven that little but more to show some qualities now. Don't know him [Jones] at all but I am looking forward to meeting him and to discuss our lads.

"I'd hope to learn how he sees things going forward as I don't know too much about his coaching style. I would like to think that some England coaches had been considered, I certainly wasn't asked, but it is now for the Premiership sides to produce the players."

Exeter looked to have the game sewn-up by half time when they led 21-7 but it wasn't until just before the hour mark that they secured the much needed bonus point having lost 25-13 away to Ospreys in the opening round.

Wing Olly Woodburn crossed the whitewash twice with Moray Low and outside centre Ian Whitten also dotting down the ball. Fly-half Henry Slade added 14 points with the boot.

"Considering the number of changes that we had made, to put together as good a performance as we did is credit to all the players bearing in mind the short training week after the disappointment at Ospreys," added Baxter.

"What ultimately won the game for us was the speed and tempo but there were times in the second half when that dropped away a bit and we went a little soft defensively. But overall the boys stuck pretty much to plan.

"I was particularly impressed by the first half tackle quality because we were up against some big guys. We chopped them to ground and made them having to keep getting off the floor which is important when you play big French teams.

"In the opening quarter we isolated their big guys and that led to a lot of breaks and opportunities for us. Olly Woodburn scored two great tries, put in a good shift around the field and he was there for the try-saving tackle."

Bordeaux-Bègles, having their first taste off English opposition in Europe, replied with a Nans Ducuing try, converted by Lionel Beauxis, in the first half with Julien Rey and Yann Lesgourgues touching down after the break and Romain Lonca adding a conversion.

Visiting head coach Raphaël Ibañez said the that the lack of experience cost his side dear at times. He added: "It was a tough lesson for the team, we were really struggling in the opening 20 minutes with teh pace of the game.

"The intensity from Exeter put us under pressure early in the game but especially in the second half I was really pleased with the player's character and scored some decent tries. So I'm pretty convinced that there is a lot that we can take from the game.

"The most pleasing point was that the players didn't give up and they tried to play some good rugby - even if some times it didn't lead to a successful conclusion. At least we tried to pass the ball to each other - which is what I wanted to see."