Baxter frustrated at loss

 

By Mark Stevens

Exeter Chiefs head coach Rob Baxter was left to bemoan a poor start from his side as Bath's hoodoo over their Devon rivals continued into a third season.

Baxter could only watch on as Bath - who have now won all five Aviva Premiership meetings between the two sides - stormed into a 12-0 lead thanks to a converted try from Ben Williams and another from Kyle Eastmond.

Although the Chiefs countered with a try of their own through prop Brett Sturgess, a penalty from home fly-half Stephen Donald ensured the home side led 15-5 at the turn.

In contrast Baxter's men were much improved after the break and although they hit back with a penalty from Gareth Steenson and a converted try from Ignacio Mieres, they were ultimately undone by a counter-attack try from Bath skipper Francois Louw and a late penalty from Donald.

Baxter said: "My frustration isn't from coming up short in the game, it's more from the first half performance. I thought we looked edgy and nervous in a game that hadn't really started and we lacked clarity in how we attacked the game.

"In the first half, we didn't look like a  side who wanted to get out there and take the game by the scruff of the neck. We slipped off tackles by going high and we looked a bit indecisive in decision-making situations.

"We would shape to kick, then decide to pass and we stood still, instead of just going for it, and that was frustrating for me. However, in the second half it was almost the reverse of that, and we really went for the game, and I think we were a little bit unfortunate not to come away with the win.

"We have come away with nothing, but in the second half a few gilt-edged opportunities did open for us, but we didn't convert them for whatever reasons, and ultimately that has cost us the game.

"You don't win many games if you don't go it for the full 80 minutes. I genuinely don't think we did. We played OK."

And whilst Baxter reflected on what might have been for his side, opposite number Gary Gold praised his side's resilience, but again questioned their on-field discipline - which included a late red card for centre Dan Hipkiss.

He said: "I'm very proud of the character we showed but not so much of certain aspects of the way we played in the second half, such as the penalty count.

"We'll take that win against a team of that quality though. We've got massive respect for Exeter. They're one of the toughest opponents we've played this season.

"I didn't see [the second Hipkiss yellow card] too well. But some of our coaches saw it and said it wasn't the cleverest of things to do. We needed him to come on for the last four minutes."