Baxter reflects on Tigers loss
By Mark Stevens
1/10/17
Rob Baxter says it’s vital he and his Exeter Chiefs move on swiftly after slipping to their second Aviva Premiership defeat of the season against Leicester Tigers on Saturday.
The defending champions were undone 20-13 at Welford Road, a result which dropped them from pole position to that of fourth spot after five rounds of the new season.
Gareth Steenson’s last-kick penalty ensured the visitors headed home with a vital losing bonus point, but the Chiefs Director of Rugby admitted his team “came up a little short” in a hard fought encounter.
Tries from Nick Malouf and Jonny May, coupled with ten points from the boot of England fly-half George Ford, proved sufficient enough to not only sink the Chiefs, but also secure a third successive league win for the Midlanders.
Steenson’s two penalties and a second half penalty try summed up Exeter’s response, but it proved not enough on the day and Baxter is adamant there will be no overreaction with the camp.
“Fair play to Leicester, in tightly contested games, normally you see one side force that killer moment or killer moments in a game and fair play to them they did that,” said Baxter. “Early in the first half there is an almost length of the field breakout, which led to our yellow card and they capitalise on that and score.
“Then later in the game, we drop a ball and Leicester reacted far better than we did and that’s the other killer moment.
“In the bigger picture, though, have we come here and done well? I’d probably say ‘yes’. Wasps at home, then Leicester away in this block, that was always going to be a challenge for us, yet we have come away with six points, so effectively that is OK.
“At the same time, I think we will be a little disappointed because the players think there was a lot more left out there for us today. However, if you want to take those points, you have to make it happen. They just won’t fall on your lap and today Leicester forced a couple of killer moments.”
Baxter continued: “Were we good at times today? Yes. We have had multiple breaks in that first half that we didn’t capitalise on, we had good pressure in the second half that again we didn’t quite capitalise on fully, but we have come away with a pretty hard fought bonus point at the end.
“That’s some good stuff in itself to work with. Losing 20-13 at Welford Road, most teams, most years, would take that, and that’s what I will make sure we do. I am not going to overreact about the fact we lost a game. It was an important game for Leicester, it was an important game for us, but we have come up a little bit short. The important thing is to leave this behind us now and move on as quickly as we can.
“We will look at it, do our normal analysis as always, but we have to park it quickly, both physically and emotionally, because we have the league leaders coming to Sandy Park, so it will be a different challenge to this week.”
Post-match Baxter also explained the absence of England and British Lions winger Jack Nowell, who was forced to miss the game with an injury picked up during England training earlier in the week.
“Jack got a dead leg in England training,” explained Baxter. “We were hoping he would come through it, but he failed a late fitness test. Hopefully, things will improve over the weekend and we can bid to get him ready for next week.”