Baxter remains positive

By Mark Stevens

Exeter Chiefs head coach Rob Baxter refused to be too downbeat despite seeing his side slip to a narrow 18-16 Aviva Premiership defeat at the hands of Gloucester.

Having claimed a last-gasp victory on their previous visit to Kingsholm back in March, the Chiefs were themselves undone in the dying minutes of this latest match-up as fly-half Freddie Burns kicked the Cherry and Whites to success in front of a sell-out crowd.

The England international plundered six penalties on the day to cancel out a converted Simon Alcott try for the Chiefs, as well as three penalties for opposite number Gareth Steenson.

Gloucester's seventh top flight win lifts them to fourth in the current Premiership standings, whilst the Chiefs remain sixth heading into their final game of 2012 against bogey side Bath at Sandy Park.

Although disappointed to see his side's seven-game winning streak brought to a halt, Baxter admitted he saw enough positives in his side's display to give him renewed confidence moving forward.

He said: "Last season we were here celebrating what we thought was a fantastic win thanks to a try in the very last seconds. Today, they've kicked the winning penalty in the last five minutes, so that is how close it can be. That's rugby and that's why I'm more than happy to take it on the chin and say on another day things we'll probably go our way."

That said, Baxter was clearly frustrated during an absorbing contest by a number of decisions made by referee Llyr Apgeriant-Roberts.

"There were some relatively dubious refereeing decisions handed out," admitted the Exeter leader. "I thought some of them were penalties to us and they ended up being a penalty and three points to Gloucester - so those are tough ones to take.

"Because of the closeness of the game, those individual decisions hurt us. However, you don’t move forward by sitting here and going everything was fine with Exeter’s performance and if it was a different referee we would’ve won the game - we don’t do that.

"You can’t control the weather, you can’t control the officials, but you can control some of the things you do, and we’ll look to improve those just that little bit going into the Bath game."

He continued: "I've just said to the guys, it was a fantastic physical effort out there from us, yet there were a few things that I know we can do better. We have to be a bit hurt with the end result and we have to make sure we take it into the Bath game. There was a lot of good stuff out there today and you don't play Gloucester at Kingsholm, when they're on form, and lose by two points and say it's a bad day.

"There is a reality to the fact that to come here, you have to be very competitive in everything you do to be there or thereabouts. Sometimes you'll win and sometimes you won't. Like I said, I am more disappointed for the players, especially considering the physical effort they put in.

"One game never defines a season, and to come away from here with a losing bonus point is still a very positive result for us. Now we've got two homes games coming up and getting points out of those games will probably define how we roll through this next set of games."