Match Reaction - Rob Baxter
By Mark Stevens
8/4/23
Exeter Chiefs Director of Rugby, Rob Baxter, saluted a ‘magical’ victory for his side as they advanced into the last four of this season’s Heineken Champions Cup with a 42-17 victory over the DHL Stormers at Sandy Park.
In what was a dominant display, one which echoed that of when they won the competition back in 2020, the Devonians set up a last four showdown against either La Rochelle or Saracens with another six-try success.
First half tries from Tom Wyatt, Jack Nowell and Olly Woodburn helped give them a 21-0 lead at the break and that advantage was increased when Sam Simmonds crossed early in the second half. Although there was a momentary fightback from the visitors, the Chiefs wrapped up their success with late tries from Jack Yeandle and Tom Cairns.
It was little wonder a beaming Baxter was quick to salute his side in his post-match assessment. He said: “It was a well deserved victory. After last week and now today, it feels well deserved. We were very good value for the win today and I think we got a lot right. Fair play, I will talk about the players in a minute because they were magnificent, but I thought the coaches pinned down a pretty simple and effective game plan, both in attack and defence, which gave us a lot of confidence.
“Fair play to the players, they executed it absolutely flat out. Even when we got a little bit wrong, because we were going flat out, most of it came off. There was a period in the second half for about 15 minutes where we got a little out of shape, a little bit indecisive, but that was the only thing that gave the Stormers a bit of breathing space.
“Other than that, I can’t credit the players enough for the way they decide to play today. All we can do is create opportunities for them. I talk to the lads a lot - and today was one of those occasions - where they have 80 minutes where they can go out and do something absolutely magical and create some incredible memories that will live with them for the rest of their lives.
“All they have to do is commit to that together and that’s what they did. That first half, in a lot of ways, was magical and something people can only touch every now and then. Unless you are part of it, you don’t really understand it.
“I think the things that we were really good at today were those those ’no glory’ moments. Loads of people will talk about today’s performance and talk about certain players and certain plays, but the guys who made everything work were those guys who do the stuff with no glory By that I mean, the stuff in the middle of scrums, the stuff in the middle of mauls, the stuff in kick chase, it’s the stuff that people don’t really notice. They were the incredible things and we did that across the board.”
Unlike in 2020 when the Chiefs advanced to the the top of Europe with no crowds, Sandy Park was rocking for this last eight encounter against the powerful South Africans.
Not since they defeated Racing 92 at Ashton Gate have the Chiefs produced a performance such as they did in this latest encounter.
“For me, personally, I would put (the performance) near the top,” added Baxter. “We achieved an incredible thing for this rugby club two years ago by winning a double (of Champions Cup and Premiership crowns).
“Ever since then, everybody outside the club has been talking about the how the castle has been crumbling. My biggest motivation has been to make sure that is not the case. You don’t get to a Champions Cup semi-final if everything is wrong. At the end of the day, we are not a broken rugby club.
“We have got the DNA within us that will bring us through a lot of challenges, which is why today feels pretty special. We have knocked over the United Rugby Championship champions, and we have done it in some style.”