Baxter refuses to panic

By Mark Stevens

Exeter Chiefs head coach Rob Baxter is refusing to panic despite seeing his side slip to defeat against Saracens in the Aviva Premiership at the new Allianz Park.

Former England international Charlie Hodgson helped steer the home side to a 31-11 success as his 16-point haul went alongside tries from props Mako Vunipola (2) and Matt Stevens.

In the first-ever top flight fixture played on an artificial pitch, the Chiefs - who replied with a Richard Baxter try and two penalties from Gareth Steenson - failed to live with their more illustrious counterparts, who condemned the Devon club to a fifth defeat in six league starts.

Although disappointed with his side's recent run of form, Baxter insisted that statistic did not exactly paint a true picture of his team's endeavours during that period.

"It does get a little frustrating, but you do have to sometimes stop and look at the bigger picture," he said. "We have got no wins in five Premiership games, but there is a very late draw in there against Bath, quite a late loss away at Gloucester, and there are reasons for some of those results.

"The key for us is not to get so desperate hunting for a win that we don’t play in the right manner, and we have to play in the right manner when we face London Welsh on Saturday. If we play in the right manner, the results will come, and we have just got to keep faith with that and keep working hard. We have got to avoid becoming a desperate team."

For 40 minutes in Barnet, the Chiefs were certainly competitive as they held the Londoners to a 7-3 lead at the break. What followed, however, was impressive from Sarries as their display not only helped to avenge defeat to the Chiefs in the corresponding fixture, but at the same time cemented their spot in the Premiership's top two.

Reflecting on his side's display, Baxter added: "We got taught a few lessons, probably a little bit with individual physicality, but also across the board as a team.

"There were some decent individual performances, and some decent individual moments. We didn’t lose every collision and we didn’t lose every bit of contact, but as a team, Saracens just enforced their game plan on us, and enforced their physicality to a degree we just couldn’t handle in the end. Fair play to them, that’s what makes them very good at what they do, we knew what was coming, and we didn’t deal with it well enough."

Indeed, it was the home side's superiority - particularly in the second period - that proved too much for the Chiefs, who now lie eighth in the table and nine points adrift of the last play-off spot.

"Charlie Hodgson missed a few kicks at goal, but in that early period of the first half, we didn’t really play how we said we were going to," said Baxter. "We had to play a bit more territory and not overplay, because playing a lot of rugby against Saracens is what can kill you.

"We played off numerous set pieces almost until we got turned over, and that put us under a bit of pressure, but we kind of weathered that a little bit, with Saracens making mistakes really, but in the second half they tightened that area of their game up.

"Their individual ball carriers, their individual work rates at chasing kicks and getting at us defensively saw them start to control the game, and once they controlled territory, it was only going to be a matter of time before they scored tries really."

The win capped a memorable first outing for Saracens at their new multi-million pound home and their director of rugby, Mark McCall, was naturally delighted with the final outcome.

He said: "We were quite frustrated at half-time. We felt we had created a lot and had clear-cut opportunities which we blew except for one which Charlie took. Thankfully we were patient and much more clinical in the second half. To start like that it's great to get four tries at our new home and the players really enjoyed it.

"The pitch feels good and there is a temptation in certain situations where you might kick where it feels right to run. Our style is about doing the right thing at the right time so if it's on in our half, we'll go. If it's not we won't. Today we had a lot of ball in hand and broke Exeter down.

"I thought there was nothing to be negative about with the pitch. We didn't have re-set scrums. It was a faster game with more ball in hand than previously."

McCall also reserved special praise for England international Vunipola, who had been released by Stuart Lancaster to play in the game, this despite being part of the Six Nations squad.

He added: "I thought Mako Vunipola was magnificent. He wasn't just good in the loose where he is as good as anybody, he was good in the tight as well. He scrummaged really well today. He's already a special player. We had no instruction from England to play him for a certain time and he needed game time."