Hard work paid dividends - Nowell

Jack Nowell says Exeter Chiefs’ players knew their hard work would pay dividends against Bayonne as they secured home advantage in the European Challenge Cup quarter-finals.

Rob Baxter’s men were only 11-0 up at half-time against the French outfit in their final Pool Two game at home on Saturday evening.

However, they kept going and eventually the floodgates opened, with the Chiefs crossing for three tries in the final 11 minutes as they won 45-3.

The final flurry also meant the Chiefs did enough to qualify for the last eight with the second best record of the group winners, which handed them a tie against Newcastle rather than Cardiff Blues. They finished with a points difference just two better than Newport Gwent Dragons.

Nowell had scored the only try in the first half, with Henry Slade landing two penalties, but the England speedster said the players were prepared to work hard in the knowledge the gaps would eventually come.

“I think we got ourselves back on track last week with a tough win at Connacht,” said Nowell, after the Chiefs had lost four in a row.

“They (Bayonne) didn’t have a lot to play for but it doesn’t really count sometimes with some French sides, they like to come out and chuck the ball around and that’s what they did.

“It was a very physical game and very tough, but the boys pulled together and we knew if we could stick in there for a good 60 or 70 minutes we could get the glory at the end. That’s exactly what happened.”

He added: “The tries at the end all came from the start. If you let some French sides get into the game like we did over there at their place they’re a very difficult side to play. This week we just concentrated on us and I think that definitely showed out there.”

Exeter’s 33-24 win at Connacht the previous weekend had already put them in the quarter-finals.

However, to go through as one of the top-four seeds they needed to beat Bayonne, and Nowell said that was a real target for the players going into the contest.

From 11-0 up, they eased away with Slade’s third penalty and Matt Jess’ try before Dave Ewers, Carl Rimmer, Kai Horstmann and Dean Mumm all crossed, with Gareth Steenson converting three of the scores.

Bayonne, whose points came from a Martin Bustos Moyano penalty, also saw replacement Simon Labouyrie sent to the sin bin as his side started to crumble.

“We knew we had made it through our group but the big thing for us was getting a home quarter-final,” said Nowell. “That’s going to be massive for us in front of our own crowd, so we knew it was a must-win game for us.”

Saturday’s win is likely to be Nowell’s last involvement with the Chiefs for a few weeks at least as he is in the England training squad preparing for their opening Six Nations match against Wales on February 6.

The senior squad met up on Monday, with four of Nowell’s clubmates – Slade, Ewers, Thomas Waldrom and Luke Cowan-Dickie – linking up with the second-string Saxons squad at the same time.

Nowell is looking forward to joining up with his international colleagues again, and hopes he can keep his form going.

“I’m glad I got through Saturday’s game without getting injured because I’d have been pretty gutted if I’d got injured!” he said. “I’m very excited about going back into camp and seeing the boys, hopefully I can carry on my form for Exeter.”