Thomas pleased with perfect start
By Mark Stevens
17/12/19
Haydn Thomas was full of praise for his Exeter Braves side as they maintained their perfect start to the new Premiership Rugby Shield season with a convincing 52-10 victory over Bath United at Sandy Park.
The Braves bossed proceedings from start to finish, running in eight tries in total through Matt Kvesic, Tom Wyatt, Jordon Poole, Rus Tuima, plus a brace apiece for James Short and Harvey Skinner, who also landed six conversions.
A youthful Bath outfit did their best to compete against their hosts, but tries from Tom Doughty and George Worboys were all they could muster on a night when they were soundly beaten.
“To have ten points from two games, we couldn’t have asked for any more than that,” said Thomas, who also helped to oversee Exeter’s opening week fixture against Harlequins, which they won 45-0.
“There were some real positives outcomes from the game, including getting game time into a few boys who have been out in a while, and some debuts for Will Witty, Enrique Pieretto and Kyle Cooper.
“To score 52 points is obviously very pleasing and very exciting, but with every performance you know there are areas that you can look to improve on and that’s what we try to do this week with the guys.”
In what was a powerful show of force from the Braves, Thomas says the competition for places across the whole Exeter squad is helping to deliver performance like that of Monday night.
“You can see everyone is pushing hard,” he added. “We’ve got a very competitive squad at the minute, all of whom are putting their hands and pushing for game time further up the line.
“As coaches, we’re delighted with a lot of what we are seeing, particularly from some of our younger players. You can see the work they are doing out at their loan clubs and the work-ons that we are giving them individually is really starting to pay dividends.”
Top of the Southern Conference, the Braves will next be in action this Sunday when they travel to Allianz Park (2pm) to face defending champions Saracens Storm.
Like the Braves, they too have picked up successive Shield victories and Thomas says the challenge of the Londoners is something he and his team are relishing this weekend.
“Like ourselves, Saracens always have a very competitive squad, whatever competition they are playing in,” said Thomas. “We know Sunday is going to be a big test for us, but I think as a group we’re all really excited to get out there again and test ourselves in what should be a great contest.”