Baxter praises resilient Chiefs

By Mark Stevens
17/2/17

Exeter Chiefs head coach Rob Baxter hailed his side's resilience after they salvaged a 35-35 draw with Aviva Premiership leaders Wasps despite playing the last 35 minutes of the game with 14 men after Jonny Hill was sent off.

The young Chiefs lock was dismissed by referee Greg Garner early in the second half for a dangerous high challenge on Wasps skipper Ashley Johnson - and it should have been the decisive factor in an incident-packed game of ten tries, two of them penalty try awards.

In addition to the their penalty try, Exeter's points came through tries from debutant Sam Simmonds, Luke Cowan-Dickie, Olly Woodburn (pictured) and Jack Maunder, with skipper Gareth Steenson converting all five.

Wasps, meanwhile, claimed scores of their own through Christian Wade, Alex Rieder, Kyle Eastmond and Joe Simpson, all of which were converted by centre Jimmy Gopperth.

Post-match, Baxter was quick to praise the efforts of his players, particularly in the second half where they were tested to the extreme by Dai Young’s visitors.

“Overall I am pretty pleased because we have collected three valuable league points against a side who have been going well in the Premiership,” said Baxter. “I know they had a few boys on England duty yesterday, but that was still a strong side that came down here, especially across the backs, and they did cause us some problems.

“We did go down to 14 men early in the game, but at one stage it looked like we maybe able to hold on for the win. However, Wasps kept coming at us and eventually the pressure told and they tied things up.

“That said, I have to give our lads huge credit because when we went down to 14 men we didn’t crumble. We probably didn’t adjust as quickly as we needed to because we conceded a try after the red card, but then we pulled our trousers up and got on with it.

“I thought we worked hard, we kept the ball well, we looked positive and most of the things we did were very good. Of course there was a little bit of miscommunication in the last 10 mins about how we wanted to drive the game that hurt us a little bit, and we gave up too much possession with kicking the ball away, but to get three league points, score lots of points, sometimes you can’t complain about the little things.”

Baxter was also pragmatic in his view of Hill’s dismissal (pictured), adding: “We all know if you go high on somebody and if you are in around shoulder neck area, there is always the possibility that if there is accidental contact with the head or the face, you run the risk of a red or a yellow card.

“If you look at the incident it’s not deliberate, he’s not out of control and there is no real damage, but we all know if you approach at that height, these are the risks you run. Right now I’ve not seen it in enough detail, but if Jonny had made contact with Ashley Johnson’s face, a decision has to be made and that ultimately comes down to the referee and the TMO.”

Even though the Chiefs were numerically disadvantaged for much of the second period, Baxter will take heart from the spirited showing of his squad, who have moved back into the top three and firmly in the play-off picture after 14 rounds of battle.

“We’ve got a decent bit of momentum,” added Baxter. “Today was our fourth game in a row that was a top four clash. We’ve not lost any of them, drawing two and winning two, which is a great return for us. What we have to do now is maintain that momentum through a series of games where we are perhaps perceived to be the favourites to win.

“Next week we go to Worcester in what will be a very tough fixture up there. They are going to be feeling good after yesterday’s win over Saracens, so we have to make sure we go there bang on, both physically and mentally, and make sure we’re in the right place to make sure we produce something in that game.

“Ultimately, the three points we gained today will be very valuable if we can now follow it up with a win again next week.”