Match Reaction - Rob Baxter
By Mark Stevens
13/2/22
Exeter Chiefs Director of Rugby, Rob Baxter, admitted to feeling mixed emotions following his side’s 35-31 loss to Gallagher Premiership rivals Worcester Warriors at Sixways.
In a topsy-turvy encounter in the Midlands, the Chiefs saw their four-game winning streak come to an end as the lowly Warriors claimed the victory thanks to a hat-trick of tries from winger Alex Hearle and other touchdowns from Noah Heward and Harri Does.
The Chiefs, however, did crucially head home with two losing bonus points after they countered with scores of their own from Santiago Grondona, Tom O’Flaherty, Jack Innard, Max Norey and Dave Ewers to keep them in fourth spot in the standings after Round 20.
It was a sterling effort from the Chiefs, who had to play over an hour of the match with 14 men following the dismissal of centre Tom Hendrickson for a shoulder high hit on Worcester No.8 Sione Vailanu.
Post-match, Baxter was somewhat reflective in his assessment of his side’s showing when asked about the two points bagged from his team.
“It could easily have been more, but it could easily have been less, it that was kind of day,” said Baxter. “It’s the old adage of if you get asked what you want before the game what you want out of it, but someone says you are going to get a red card 20 minutes into the game, you’re probably going to take two points, because that's a pretty good return.
“But right now, it also feels like we gave up some pretty soft points - and that's what I’ve just said to the players. I actually can't fault their work rate, their fight to win the game because I saw that on the field today, and I thought it meant a lot to us to win the game. But, at the same time, in the space of that game we had small momentsthat massively hurt us.
“We have thrown another intercept that’s gone the length of the pitch, which felt like a 14-point turnaround at that stage, plus a couple of counter-attack defensive slip-offs that have been quite poor or very poor. As I said, we have had moments that have given away pretty quick tries that have really hurt us.
“If you take those things out of the game, it looks like we have managed a very difficult situation very well, almost to like a five-point win, but we can’t take those out of the game because they are there and they happened - and that’s what I have said to the lads.”
The Chiefs will now revert back to the Premiership Rugby Cup for a week, before resuming top flight action against table-topping Leicester Tigers at Sandy Park on March 27.
In that time, Baxter says a detailed review of this performance will be carried out and that learnings will be made in the club’s push for the play-offs.
“Whatever we do and we are going to get better as a team, you do have to take individual responsibility for your parts because there are lots of moving parts out there and you do need the guys to complete those basic moving parts first. If we get those things right, then the energy, the emotion and the drive in the team will drives us into high quality performance levels. Sadly today, we just had too many moments that hurt us.”
And one of those moments that hurt the visitors was the dismissal of Hendrickson.
“I can’t complain about it because there is a free-frame in there, where there is a chin down to the shoulder at force,” he added, “It feels awkward because they happen quite a lot in the game these. Now, those chest to chest collisions, if that are that high and they look wrong, they are leading to cards.
“We had a similar one go the the other way up at Newcastle the other week, so I can’t stand here and complain that they are going one way, because they are certainly not. The one thing I can say is that they are only going one way against high tacklers, so all we can do is keep driving that you can’t jump in with force at chest height because you run the risk of being carded.”
Despite the loss, the two point return the Chiefs achieved from Sixways could yet prove pivotal in their seasonal quest, particularly with London Irish and Gloucester also losing at the weekend.
“We’ve got to make sure the two points are crucial for us,” continued Baxter. “I’ve just said to the players, the way we have broken this end of season down and the collection of points we need to gain from each block, we are actually on track. We just about got on track in our last group of four and we are currently on track - which if we win our next game at home to Leicester, who are on form and better than us at the moment - we can get right back on track fir were we want to be in that top four.
“Today has been a little dent to us but we have come through with an opportunity because of the two points.”