Baxter sees positives in defeat
By Mark Stevens
19/2/18
Rob Baxter has called for his Exeter Chiefs side to put in a “big and emotional” performance when they play host to Northampton Saints in the Aviva Premiership this Saturday (2pm).
The Chiefs Director of Rugby watched on as his reigning champions surrendered top spot in the league, going down 13-7 to Wasps at the Ricoh Arena on Sunday.
Marcus Watson’s converted first half try, plus two penalties for the prolific Jimmy Gopperth, allowed the Midlanders to not only close the gap on the Chiefs in the top four, but at the same time avenge two recent losses to their arch rivals, including last season’s Premiership Final at Twickenham.
Exeter’s loss – their third on the bounce in the top flight – saw them drop to second in the table for the first time since October, but Baxter is confident his squad can regroup quickly and fire their title defence back into full effect against the visiting Saints.
“We have strived for all week was to knock our level of performance on from that which we showed against Worcester the previous week,” said Baxter. “I thought today we were a lot better against a strong Wasps side, who have been playing well and scoring lots of points.
“Yes, we’ve lost the game, which is disappointing in itself, but we did have our moments in the game. We had guys who got over the line, we had five-metre pressure on a number of occasions, plus we had a few odd things happen in the game where certain things were picked up and other things were not. It will be interesting chatting to the officials about some of those because they are the small margins which, on a day like today, can turn a game.”
Although frustrated with certain elements of the contest, Baxter is never one to put a defeat down to just one facet of the game.
“As I always say to our lads, you have to move beyond odd decisions deciding what happens,” added Baxter. “Today, and throughout the week, the lads have expressed themselves and committed themselves very well. I thought they worked hard, they fought like mad at times, and they had some moments in the game where they had to withstands some strong pressure from Wasps.
“What they showed, however, was that they were willing to stand up and fight. Now what I want them to show is that same fight this weekend and use the hurt of the Worcester game, where we weren’t at our best, and go out and put in a big, emotional, flat-out performance against Northampton.”
Certainly, the signs were encouraging enough against Wasps – and Baxter believes it will not take too much to get his squad firing on all cylinders again.
“I’m OK with today,” said Baxter. “We were breaking the line a lot better, we were putting Wasps under stress for multiple phases at a time, so we’re not too bad.
“Was it perfect? ‘No’.
“Did we do things wrong? ‘Yes’
“Are there things we need to add to our game? ‘Yes’
“But it’s like that whether you win or lose a game, that bit doesn’t change. What we have to do is focus on doing the right things at the right time. If we do that, then I am sure good things will happen for us.
“People will talk about three losses on the trot, which we can’t deny, but we’re still second in the Premiership. Finishing in that top two is still entirely in our hands, if we want it to be. What we have to do is choose that as our goal, drive it home, and do everything we can flat out. That’s the only challenge I need to give to the players moving forward. If we maximise every opportunity we have got to play rugby between now and the end of the season, we will have a home semi-final, and that is what we should be talking about.”