'Still more to come' - Baxter

By Mark Stevens

Head coach Rob Baxter was happy to salute his side's latest Aviva Premiership victory over London Wasps, but he still believes his Exeter Chiefs side have yet to hit top form this season.

The Chiefs maintained their unbeaten home record in the top flight as they overcame Wasps 30-23 at Sandy Park thanks to tries from Chris Whitehead, Haydn Thomas (pictured) and Phil Dollman, as well as 15 points from the boot of leading points-scorer Gareth Steenson.

Exeter's win - their sixth in the Premiership this term - not only helped lift the Chiefs back into the division's top five, but condemned Dai Young's visitors to their third successive loss on Devon soil.

With little to choose between the two teams in a hugely entertaining first period, Wasps were unable after the break to rediscover the same form that brought them converted tries for Elliot Daly and Tom Varndell, as well as two penalties and two conversions for Lee Thomas. In the end, it took a last-gasp penalty from replacement Tommy Bell to ensure they headed home with a losing bonus point.

For Baxter, though, this latest success was again another one to savour. He said: "I'm delighted with the result and I'm also pleased that we are ticking along well. I've just said to the guys, I still don't think we've hit top form yet because we have actually performed a bit better at home than we did today, but at the same time I can also see there is still a bit in the tank for us."

Having led early through two Steenson penalties, the Chiefs twice had to hit back from going behind to tries from Daly and Varndell to establish parity by the break.

Indeed, it was Varndell's try that had everybody talking during the interval. The England international was able to cross for his ninth score of the season, even though it appeared fellow winger Christian Wade had shipped a blatant forward pass to his colleague in the build-up.

Baxter, though, was encouraged by the way his side - victorious in their last five league and cup matches - reacted to falling behind to both scores.

"I am massively pleased with the character of the players to come back from some of the hammer blows they suffered," said Baxter, "particularly the soft try, which was probably from a knock-on and a forward pass.

"Sometimes you see players in other teams looking at the big screens and think they have been hard done by and they fall apart for ten minutes. What did we do? We went straight down the other end of the pitch and scored a try to even things up and that, ultimately, was the making of the game for us. We just got on with it, which is a great characteristic to have."

The Chiefs leader was also impressed by the way his team went about their work, particularly up front where the forwards were forceful all afternoon, both in the tight and loose play.

"Being honest, we looked more of an attacking threat than we converted in the end," said Baxter. "And it was just really nice to see a bit of variety in our play, we even scored tries through the forwards today!

"Normally we tend to chuck it around a bit, play multi-phase rugby and tries come from that with the backs running them in, but today I thought our forwards really had a good bit of grind about them and ultimately that was the biggest difference in the two teams."

And the only real disappointment for Baxter was the fact that his side failed to collect an extra bonus point, having earlier collected three tries during the game.

"When you get the three tries and you have a little bit of breathing space, you are always a little disappointed not to get that fourth try," he said. "Obviously with five minutes to go and ten points up, there is an opportunity there as you are unlikely to lose the game, so you can give it a real crack.

"Unfortunately, how we went about it probably wasn’t quite accurate enough, but to get three tries and be relatively comfortable for that last third of the game, considering how it was to and fro in the first half, was really pleasing."

Baxter's opposite number, Dai Young, had few complaints about the end outcome, stating: "To be honest, we were a bit lucky to come away with a losing bonus point. In the first half we were in the game, going into half-time we were quite confident, but in the second half we didn't have any control, we never had any ball, which didn't allow us to put any pressure on.

"The big decisive factor was our two yellow cards. No complaints from me, they were yellow cards. We had 17 points scored against is when we were down to 14 - and in the end that proved the difference."

The former Welsh international also called for TV match officials to be implemented at all Premiership fixtures, even though had one been at Sandy Park it was likely Varndell's score would have been chalked off.

"It makes sense to me for all games to have a TMO because there are such fine margins. If you look at the table there are more tight games in the Premiership than in any other league," said Young. "One score is the difference between winning or losing, so if you are going to have the TMO, then you have to have it in every game."