Chiefs side to face the Stormers
By Mark Stevens
7/4/23
Rob Baxter's believes last weekend's Heineken Champions Cup victory over Montpellier has set a 'baseline' from which his side must now attack the remainder of this season.
Exeter's dramatic 33-33 draw against the French giants, won on a try count back, means the Chiefs will have home advantage when they welcome another rugby heavyweight, the Stormers, to Devon for tomorrow's quarter-final encounter (5:30pm).
In a game which was emotionally draining both for players and supporters alike, Devon's finest must rouse themselves again for another physical showdown against their illustrious South African visitors.
"I said to the lads in the first meeting this week, I'm only going to keep saying the same things to you," said Baxter. "I am not going to try and change what I'm asking from you each week. I expect you to work hard, commit to one another, sacrifice a bit for one another and make ourselves hard to beat.
"We've talked a lot about that and also our emotional alignment and how we want to feel about one another after the game. For me, that is it! I've not tried to make it any more complicated than that because it then allows us as coaches to put a plan in place and we get on with stuff.
"Now, what I want to see is that is the baseline for us moving forward together. We need to be comfortable with last week's performance being a baseline because performances like last week have been the foundation for a lot of our success over the years. Yes, we could easily have lost had we knocked the ball on or whatever, but if you get that baseline you start to win games."
Jack Yeandle's last-gasp try ensured the former champions advanced into tomorrow's last eight encounter against a Stormers side who, in their first season in the competition, have so far collected four wins out of five, including last weekend's home win over Harlequins.
Baxter is aware of the threat the visitors will pose to his side and will underline that message further in the hours leading up to kick-off.
“They are a good side; they are very confident,” added Baxter. “They are playing well, buoyed by some success last year. In the Champions Cup now and going well. They are going to be a good side.
“I met John Dobson a few years ago, he came over here. He knew Don Armand from Western Province and he popped in for a day or so and I had a good chat with him. He seemed a pretty good guy. We talked a lot about what we were doing to try to build a team ethos and a team culture and it looks like he has spent a lot of time focusing on that with the Stormers."
Last weekend's victory also came in the wake of a hard-hitting debrief from Baxter, who was not afraid to show his anger in his side's disappointing defeat at Westcountry rivals Bath the previous week.
In his post-match assessment, the Chiefs Director of Rugby promised there would be changes and, true to his word, they occurred with a number of the club's highly-rated youngsters getting their chance to perform on the big stage.
Try-scorer Tom Wyatt, along with the likes of Will Becconsall and Tom Cairns, all featured, whilst there were also notable displays from Sean O'Brien in the midfield and an encouraging debut from new signing, Nika Abuladze.
This week, Baxter expressed how results and other off-field matters this season had created a somewhat negative vibe around all things Chiefs - and that results and reaction like that shown by everyone at the final whistle a week ago was how he wants the club to progress.
“We have got to enjoy the here and now," continued Baxter. "You have got to enjoy the journey… One of the best things about Sandy Park, when we were first in the Premiership, was the atmosphere in the stadium. It didn’t require us to win. It just required us to play well and do the best we could, and you get a fantastic atmosphere.
“It’s just trying to remind everybody about that. After that period of success, it feels like the world is collapsing when we lose, and things are just okay when we win. I actually thought at the weekend the vibe in the stadium changed that a little bit.
“We didn’t win on the scoreboard, it was a draw and try count put us through, but the atmosphere around the ground, the times when we needed the stadium to get going and particularly at the end, I thought was fantastic.
“The game did go on,” he reflected. “Every period had extra time, so it was a fair bit beyond 100 minutes. The key is we can talk about recovery and not trying to do too much, keep things short and sharp this week and that is fine – but the reality is we have got to emotionally recharge the batteries.
“It was a big emotional performance from us. The crowd was rocking. It was one of those games that can actually take a lot out of you, mainly because you feel pretty good about yourself. Things feel a bit better when you actually at some stage during the week have to put a cap on that and move forward to the next game and we had to pretty much do that on Wednesday.”
Not surprisingly, Baxter sticks with a virtually unchanged match-day 23 for the game. The sole change to the starting line-up sees winger Olly Woodburn - who was withdrawn late in the day last week - return at the expense of Rory O'Loughlin. The only other change comes on the bench where the experienced Stuart Hogg is fit again after an ankle injury and replaces Josh Hodge.
Tomorrow's match will also mark a 50th Champions Cup appearance for Chiefs and Scotland lock, Jonny Gray.
