Chiefs ready to attack on all fronts

By Mark Stevens
23/3/23

Rob Baxter believes last weekend’s Premiership Rugby Cup success can provide the launchpad for a big end to the season for everyone at Exeter Chiefs.

With one piece of silverware already safely secured in the Sandy Park trophy cabinet, both Baxter and women’s head coach, Susie Appleby, are now setting their sights on adding to that in the coming weeks and months.

The men’s side will continue their seasonal quest with a trip to Bath in the Gallagher Premiership this Sunday (3pm), before then gearing up for a mouth-watering Heineken Champions Cup home clash against Montpellier a week later.

The women’s side, meanwhile, are themselves well placed to attack the season when they resume playing duties next month following the culmination of the Six Nations Championship. Appleby’s side have already secured their place in the Allianz Premier 15s play-offs, despite having four games to go, and they will tackle Westcountry rivals Bristol Bears in the semi-finals of the Allianz Cup on April 23.

It is little wonder there is huge excitement circulating about the club as the season heads towards the business end.

Reflecting on last Sunday’s Cup triumph over London Irish, Baxter said: “Obviously we were delighted with the win. Those guys who performed have worked extremely hard and put in a lot of effort and a lot of focus. Quite often they’ve had to come together at short notice. People probably don’t realise that, but often they have a week to prepare, but they’ve gelled together incredibly well and they got their success at the weekend.

“It wasn’t easy for them, there were elements of the game that weren’t great, but I thought they showed some real adversity to come through and perform like they did. They were behind on the scoreboard for long periods, but they never gave in and they were the team who, come the end, were growing and showing that belief to win a game of rugby.”

Baxter added: “I said to the lads this week, winning is great, but there is nothing better than winning games you deserve to win. For those guys, they got to have that feeling because when they had to dig in, that’s exactly what they did, and that’s always more enjoyable when you see the hard work pay off like that.

“What you saw was a team who across 80 minutes, then across 90 minutes, then across 100 minutes, refused to give in. We had a good mix of genuinely young players, sprinkled in with that little bit of experience you need on occasions like that. That blend together was really nice and it created what was a very good team performance in the end. Now the challenge for everyone at the club is to keep creating those team performance across the 80 minutes they play.”

Like the men’s side, the Chiefs Women will be looking to build on what has been a superb season to date. Appleby’s charges have been outstanding, not just in the defence of their Allianz Cup crown, but in the Premier 15s where they have recorded 13 consecutive bonus point victories.

They are, without doubt, the division’s form team and hopes are high that they not only make it back-to-back victories in the Cup, but that they can go one step further in the league, having been edged out by Saracens in last season’s final at Worcester’s Sixways Stadium.