A win to savour for Baxter's Chiefs
By Mark Stevens
29/12/19
As one decade ended for the Exeter Chiefs, so another is about to begin and Director of Rugby, Rob Baxter, believes there is still ‘more to come’ from his side as they prepare to enter into 2020.
In what has been a hugely successful ten-year period for the Devon club, rising out of the Championship to now establish themselves as one of English rugby’s leading lights, the Chiefs moved back to the summit of the Gallagher Premiership with a 14-7 victory over Saracens at Sandy Park.
Converted tries from Nic White and Jacques Vermeulen secured success for Baxter’s side, who despite having prop Harry Williams red-carded late on, proved too strong for the division’s defending champions.
Having lost to Saracens in three out of the last four Premiership Finals at Twickenham, the recent revelations that the Londoners had been found guilty of breaching the division’s stringent salary cap regulations have certainly not sat well with those in power at Sandy Park.
Docked 35 points and fined £5.3 million, Saracens know they have it all to do this season when it comes to league matters. In the Westcountry on Sunday, the Chiefs showed they were in no mood to assist their rivals in trying to pull clear of the bottom of the table.
There had been plenty of build-up to this so-called grudge match in the build-up to the contest, but following his side’s latest triumph, Baxter was already looking to the future and keen to move things on quickly.
“The best thing about getting today’s game done is that we can actually move on,” he said. “This is a third of the way through the Premiership and we don’t play Saracens again until near the end of the campaign, so we need to move on because there are a lot of other important games to play.”
In a bruising contest from start to finish, the Chiefs produced arguably their best defensive display of the season to keep at bay a full-strength Saracens side.
Asked if there was an additional motivation for his side ahead of kick-off, given what has emerged in recent times, Baxter continued: “For me to say anything else would be ridiculous. There is a reality to things and I’m sure it would have been a massively satisfying result for Saracens too had they won the game.
“For us, it’s an important result because we know Saracens are a very good team, good players, well coaches and that they are always tough to beat in whatever competition you play them in. There are all kinds of reasons for it to be satisfying for us – and we will take them all – but the most important thing is we’ve fronted up as a group of players and we’ve performed to a high enough standard that has won us the game.”
Certainly, Baxter would take this latest triumph, but at the same time he stressed the importance of his side moving things on again quickly.
He added: “A lot of these players have lost a couple of finals to Saracens, yet they want to be successful In their own right. They want to be winning trophies and titles themselves, so anything moves us in that direction is important to them.
“People have to be careful thinking Exeter’s only motivation is Saracens, because it’s not. Saracens is one step of the journey. Our motivation is being successful ourselves. Whether it’s guys reaching milestones, losing to a team from the year before, or whatever it may be, you use whatever motivation you can.
“It doesn’t mean we can move beyond Saracens because we can, the teams we have to move onto now are those that are directly in and around us at the top.”
Next up for the Chiefs will be Sunday’s trip to London Irish and Baxter will have to play a waiting game to see if England international Williams will be available for that game.
The tight-head prop saw red from referee Wayne Barnes after getting embroiled in a touchline melee just three minutes from time. Williams, who had already been replaced, leapt from the dug-out to come to the aid of his team-mates who had become involved in the sideline dust-up.
“I’ve had a chat with Harry and he’s obviously disappointed with it,” said Baxter. “He hasn’t gone in there and done anything physically violent, but I think he’s gone over there because he felt an Exeter Chiefs player is being surrounded and mobbed a bit and he feels he is just helping out.
“We need to have a good look at it and see what the outcome of that will be, simply because he’s an important player for us who may not be available for a period of time.”