Baxter savours famous win

By Mark Stevens

Exeter Chiefs boss Rob Baxter believes the memory of his side’s improbable trip to the European Rugby Champions Cup quarter-finals will live long in the memory after an afternoon of high drama at Sandy Park.

The Chiefs started the day as outsiders to reach the last eight, but their bonus-point 33-17 win over the Ospreys was enough to see them advance on points difference.

Even then Clermont Auvergne could still have denied them, but Morgan Parra's decision to turn down a kickable penalty in their meeting with Bordeaux-Begles cost the French club dearly.

As it was, two tries apiece from Thomas Waldrom and James Short, plus a Kai Horstmann score were enough to get the job done in the most unlikely of fashions.

"I am obviously delighted, but delighted more for the players than anything else,” said Baxter. "Qualifying from this pool looked very unlikely and anyone who put a bet on that outcome has probably made a fortune, but we knew this was precious and we wanted something out of it.

"We talked beforehand about the character we wanted to show and what we wanted to take out of the game. We didn't expect to be winning the pool, but the players put in a fantastic shift and got a real tangible reward for it.

"It was pretty confusing at the end there, hearing Clermont turned down a kick to win the pool, but it has panned out for us even if we did not know whether to kick the ball out at the end or score another try.”

Baxter added: "It is hard to express, but I am delighted for the players because now they have a memory that will last with them for many, many years to come.

"It is a fantastic achievement for us and we want to have as many big games as possible to look forward to towards the back end of the season.

"We are confident we can be in with a genuine shout of doing well because there will be an English club in the final and we are second in the Premiership. We can really enjoy it."

The Chiefs will now visit Wasps at the last-eight stage in early April, and Baxter added: "We don't need to worry about Europe now.

"It's a long way away, and that is fantastic because it gives us a chance to thicken out our squad with players returning from injury. We will enjoy it tonight, and then it is back to business with the Aviva Premiership."