Pre-season progress pleases Baxter

By Mark Stevens

Exeter Chiefs head coach Rob Baxter admits he is encouraged by the way his squad is coming together through what is always a tough pre-season programme for the Aviva Premiership outfit.

Having seen the majority of his squad return to active duty earlier this month, the class of 2015/16 are already putting in the hard yards as the countdown to the new campaign draws ever nearer.

Early morning swim sessions, gruelling gym work-outs, beach training and the obligatory rugby skills are all high on the agenda for Devon’s finest as they look to build on what was their best-ever top flight season last term.

A healthy mix of new and old have already reported back for pre-season and although Baxter is minus a number of his more high-profile players due to the build-up of this autumn’s Rugby World Cup, the array of talent on show at the club’s temporary training base in Topsham is still one that would have many coaches licking their lips in anticipation.

It’s little wonder therefore that Exeter’s very own ‘Commander in Chief’ is pleased with the progress that has already been produced in the opening weeks of pre-season.

“The boys are training really well,” said Baxter. “Not only physically do we look pretty good, but mentally we look very switched on and very focused in every rugby session we’ve done.

“We’ve already done a fair bit of skill development stuff at a low level and we’ve done some pretty high tempo game type stuff as well. However, the thing I am most pleased about is our focus, we look like a team that has come away from feeling pretty good about ourselves and finishing towards the top end of the Premiership last season, but who have now come in and are feeling good about themselves in the right way. Already you can see there is a real focus and determination about all the guys.”

As has been the case in recent years, Baxter uses the opening days of pre-season to send his squad on an overseas team bonding trip which, he says, allows the new recruits to quickly become acquainted with their new team-mates in a different environment.

Baxter continued: “For me, there is no doubt guys who are prepared to work hard together get bonded together pretty quickly. The trip to Spain at the start of the year is great because it break downs a few barriers and everyone gets to know one another in a social environment first. Often that can sometimes be the hardest way to learn about people, but we get that out of the way quickly and from what I’ve seen, the new guys have adapted well and they’ve come in very focused. As I said, that’s very important to those guys because they are not drifting.

“What is also really pleasing is that some of our senior players have come in very focused on their rugby and looking to improve. That’s always the key in pre-season, you don’t want to waste time getting people up to speed, they need to come in ready to train hard. Luckily we have got that here and that allows us to get on with things and run pre-season at the pace we want to.”

Certainly the calibre of Baxter’s summer signings also helps in that department - particularly with the quality now on show - but he insists he and his fellow coaches are continuing to learn year on year about the demands of English rugby’s top division.

“Every player is different and there is no generic one way of looking at it,” says Baxter, who will be guiding the Chiefs into their sixth season in the Premiership. “Obviously what we are very aware of as coaches is doing those up speed meetings and getting guys up to speed quickly.

“Yes, the game is evolving all the time. The guys from the Championship that we bring in are coming in at a more professional level and have that ability to come in and take things on quickly and train at a higher intensity.

“That is happening and developing every year, but at the same time we are gaining more experience all the time about how to add players to the squad. We now know more about how to get them up to speed quickly; how to deal with them individually and which groups to add them into. We also know how to get some individual skill development into them and how to make them feel comfortable dropping into our environment

“That, I feel, tends to be something we have done well for a number of years now. What I want the new guys to add is a level of focus and a level of intensity that cranks up year by year and at the moment that is how it feels this year.”