Baxter bemoans discipline issues
By Mark Stevens
26/10/19
Frustrated Exeter Chiefs Director of Rugby, Rob Baxter, says he will address the discipline of his players this week after watching his side slip to a narrow 13-10 loss at Bath in the Gallagher Premiership.
A high penalty count at The Rec came back to bite the Devonians, who having dominated large parts of the first half, failed to heed the warnings of referee JP Doyle for a number of high tackles.
Rhys Priestland had kicked Bath in front with an early penalty, only for the Chiefs to respond with a converted Jonny Hill try and a penalty from joe Simmonds. However, as half time beckoned, the visitors were guilty of coughing up a couple of soft penalties and the hosts capitalised, creating the platform for hooker Tom Dunn to squirm over for the try, converted by Priestland.
Although Baxter chatted through the indiscretions his side were making during the interval, the Chiefs failed to heed the words of their leader in the second half.
Priestland’s match-winning penalty was the only points of the half, but it was the on-field actions of his players – at crucial times – which left Baxter looking for answers at the final whistle.
“I have to be careful a little bit here, because I think it’s always important to give the opposition credit – and I thought Bath worked incredibly hard today and they won the discipline battle,” said Baxter.
“But, I’ve kind of just lost my temper with the lads in the changing room because I do feel like as much as Bath pressurised us, which did create some of those penalties, you don’t really create a high tackle. That is just someone carrying the ball as they are supposed to carry it – and if you just give away high tackle penalties, you are just handing momentum over to the opposition in those conditions.
“As I said, great credit to Bath for maintaining their discipline way better than we did. It was a high work-rate game for both packs of forwards, it was always going to be like that, so great credit to both packs.
“Ultimately, though, I’m a bit frustrated that not only did we do it once or twice, which hurt us, we almost refused to learn the lessons. And when you don’t learn lessons, that’s more annoying than anything else, and that is what I’ve just said to the lads.”
Baxter admitted the two-minute period just prior to the break was a prime example of the frustrations laid out by his team.
He added: “That period of play sums up a lot of what we did tonight. We have lassoed a Bath back in the back field, it’s then become a high tackle. We then lose territory, we then give away another high tackle in the build-up to Bath scoring their try just before half time.
“Then, another high tackle after the break leads to three points. A high tackle then stops us getting any pressure one metre from their line – and one of the shortest blokes on the field manages to give away a high tackle. Sooner or later you have to say ‘come on guys’ there are some lessons to be learnt here, and we have to learn them pretty quickly.
“There is an element here that we’ve kind of beaten ourselves, but at the same time I don’t want to take anything away from Bath because rugby isn’t really like that. You tend to get what you deserve and we deserve to be beaten for our ill-discipline.”
What the discipline aspect was the major negative of the night for Baxter, the Chiefs coach was still able to find positives in his side’s display – and he says he will use those to get them prepared for next Sunday’s Premiership trip to Worcester Warriors.
“A point away from home is a par performance,” he continued. “Losing by three points away from homein the Premiership, nine times out of ten, that’s a pretty good performance, especially when you collect the losing bonus point.
“Like I always say, we’ve never been a team that are defined by one. There are parts of the game tonight where we were good, but sadly we’ve let one element of our game dictate everything else.”
Friday’s game also marked the first outing in a Chiefs shirt for summer signing Stuart Hogg – and Baxter felt the Scottish international was ‘good’ on his league debut.
“I thought he was good considering it was his first game,” added Baxter. “There were a couple of times he counter attacked when he should have just kicked, but you’ve got to remember he’s only had a handful of sessions with the boys , so to look that comfortable and assured, I was pleased with that.”