Baxter positive despite defeat

By Mark Stevens

Exeter Chiefs head coach Rob Baxter refused to be too downbeat despite seeing his side miss out on a first-ever appearance in a European final.

Up against Aviva Premiership rivals Gloucester at their notorious Kingsholm base, it was the home side who ultimately prospered as they secured a 30-19 victory to set-up a date with Edinburgh on Friday, May 1.

Converted tries from Bill Meakes, Tom Savage and Jonny May were the key highlights for the Cherry & Whites, whose remaining points came courtesy of the boots of international half-backs Greig Laidlaw and James Hook.

The Chiefs played their part in a hard-fought encounter, but Elvis Taione’s converted second half try, plus four penalties from Henry Slade were sadly not enough on the night.

Although disappointed to have missed out on a second showpiece final of the season, Baxter remained positive when addressing the media post-match.

“Obviously I am disappointed,” said Baxter. “You are disappointed every time you lose a game of rugby and obviously losing a semi-final is particularly disappointing.

“However, we have got to make sure we see it for what it is and not try to over analyse ourselves - and try and find all kinds of things that went wrong. A lot of what we did tonight was good and we showed a lot of the qualities that have helped us have a pretty good season to date.

“Being honest, Gloucester got enough things better than us that they deserved to win - and I am not afraid to say that. There were a couple of areas where Gloucester performed better than us and they were pretty much the deciding factors.

“The penalty count was largely in Gloucester’s favour at the scrum and that gave them territory and position which hurt us. They managed that area better than we did. Other than that really, we defended well with good discipline for large periods, we looked dangerous on the counter and created some try-scoring opportunities which we didn’t quite see off. Overall, we came up a bit short.”

It was all somewhat different to seven days earlier when the Chiefs pack dismantled their Northampton rivals in a powerful display that ensured Exeter claimed a league double over the reigning champions.

On Saturday, Irish referee John Lacey consistently penalised Baxter’s side at scrum time and it was those infringements that allowed the hosts to create a decent attacking platform.

"We under performed and a few people have learnt a few things on how to play in this fantastic environment," added Baxter.

"The set piece proved to be a big part of the game and, as I said earlier, they managed it better than we did. A lot of the scrums ended up on the floor, which was not the case in last week's game against Northampton.

“That said, we won't be changing anything radically as a result of this defeat. We are having an exciting season and there will be no need to pick the players up.”

Indeed, next up for the Chiefs is this Sunday’s first-ever league trip to the Ricoh Arena where Wasps provide the opposition for Baxter and his players.

Baxter continued: “I am not the biggest fan of Sunday rugby, but I am quite pleased that is the case next week because we can genuinely give the lads a couple of days off and get them freshened up again.

“They have had a good run of weekends playing. Last Sunday [against Northampton] was a big, physical game and I thought we did well with the way the lads trained during this past week, as well as the focus they showed.

“We pretty much only had one training session really for this game because we were recovering from the Saints’ match.

“We will review the Gloucester game, but our best qualities are that we work hard and train hard - and that is what we have got to show for the next few weeks.”