Bonus reward is only real positive

By Mark Stevens

Rob Baxter attempted to pick the positives out of a disappointing display from his Exeter Chiefs side as they slipped to only their second Aviva Premiership defeat of the season at Northampton Saints.

Mike Haywood’s first half try, together with a penalty from fly-half JJ Hanrahan, enabled the Saints to return to winning ways with a narrow 8-3 victory at Franklin’s Gardens.

Gareth Steenson’s late penalty ensured the visitors at least grabbed a losing bonus point from their trek to the East Midlands, but that was one of only a few highlights for Baxter to reflect on at the final whistle.

"I think we've stolen a point haven't we? That's what it feels like," said the Chiefs head coach. "I am pleased with the losing bonus point, but I am not pleased with how we played – I thought we were a bit off today.

“I thought Saints looked more in control of the game for longer periods than we did and you can’t take that away from them. Looking at the game, our moments of territory and possession were quite sporadic in comparison to Northampton.

“That said, to end up five points down and in with a shout at the end of getting something right at the end is something we should be proud of. As I said, I don’t think we turned up here today - and we’ll talk about that next week - with the right intensity levels to win the game, but I am quite pleased the guys have dug in and come away with the losing bonus point.”

Although the Chiefs were much improved in the second half, they could not replicate the same attacking flow which had seen them accrue six successive league wins before this latest setback.

"I am not going to stand here and say I know exactly what it is and say I can put my finger on it, but I just thought we were a little tentative early in the game," added Baxter.

"We never really found a way of getting into the game. We couldn't make our maul much of a weapon because we didn't claim enough line-out ball.

"We actually won a fair bit of line-out ball, but it was all tippy-tappy stuff. Defensively we looked okay but we didn't really come out with any of the 50-50 high-ball stuff, which potentially might have got us back on the front foot and broken up the phases and passages of play.”

Baxter continued: “What people have to remember is we played a tough game against Sale on Boxing Day and we put a lot into that game. Also, people have to remember that this is still a tough place to come and play a game of rugby.

“It was only a couple of weeks ago a decent Racing Metro side came here and drew 9-9, so to come here and think we’ve not really thrown our best shots, yet still got something from the game, is okay.”

Next up for the Chiefs is next Saturday’s visit of Gloucester to Sandy Park and their experienced leader knows his side will need to show a much improved display on home soil.

“It will be important because it’s a home fixture and good seasons are build on solid home performances,” continued Baxter. “Our focus moving forward will be to perform better than we did today.

“We’ll chat on Monday about how we can crank up our performance levels to a better level of intensity, that way we are then forcing more into the game. If we’re honest, we didn’t really force too much out there today, it was more about containing Northampton than us trying to get hold of the game for ourselves and that’s something we can’t do at home.”