Mixed feelings for Baxter after draw

By Mark Stevens
8/10/2016

Rob Baxter said he saw “the good, the bad and the ugly” from his side as they produced a late fightback to snatch a 27-27 draw against visiting Gloucester in Round Six of this season’s Aviva Premiership.

In a dramatic conclusion to events at Sandy Park, winger Ian Whitten and lock Damian Welch both crossed for late tries as Exeter recovered from a 13-point deficit entering into the final quarter.

Exeter fly-half Gareth Steenson could then have won it at the death had it converted Welch’s score from the left touchline, but in the end it was a share of the spoils for the Westcountry rivals.

With little to choose between either side in the first half, Matt Scott and Charlie Sharples both claimed converted scores for the visitors, while at the other end Thomas Waldrom and Whitten also found their way over the whitewash before Billy Twelvetrees struck over a penalty just before the break to give the Cherry & Whites a slender lead at the turn.

Greig Laidlaw extended that buffer with another penalty early in the second half, before England No.8 Ben Morgan rounded off some solid approach work from David Halaifonua to put Gloucester in charge heading into the final stages.

On home soil, though, the Chiefs are always a tough nut to crack and having been given a sniff of a comeback thanks to Whitten’s second of the game, a Steenson penalty further reduced the deficit before Welch struck with the last move of the game.

Post-match, Baxter gave his reaction to his side’s performance, saying: “I think today had everything. We saw the good, the bad and the ugly from us. If we’re honest some of the points we conceded in the first half were pretty soft. The first try they’ve carried out a simple move around the front of the line-out, we’ve missed a tackle and they score immediately.

“The second try, they’ve plucked the ball out of the air in a one on one scenario, where we haven’t worked hard enough to get back and cover them coming up with the ball, and all of a sudden they’ve scored two tries with no territory and no possession. We, on the other hand, had to work hard for our two scores, so that’s a little frustrating.”

Baxter continued: “The good, though, was that we were able to come back with 15 minutes left on the clock, score three times, and draw the game. To me that shows a fantastic amount of character and I’ve just said to the players that was the most character we have shown all season.

“Moving forward that bodes well, but I’ve also challenged them by saying if you can play like that for 10 mins in a game, then we have to expect you to play like that for 60, 70 mins in a game. That is what we have inside of us and we must make sure we let it out.”

The draw - only Exeter’s second in their top flight existence - helped lift the Chiefs to fifth in the table. Next up for them is the start of their European Champions Cup campaign with Clermont Auvergne the visitors to Sandy Park next Sunday, before they travel to Ulster Rugby the following Saturday.

Baxter is well aware a step up in standards is needed from his players, although he recognises they are not a million miles away from replicating the kind of form that took them to the last eight of Europe and the Aviva Premiership final last season.

“I can dress it up as much as I like, but right now we are not quite letting ourselves fly at things and absolutely sparkle,” said Baxter. “We are working hard - everything we do says we work hard, all the stats, the GPS data, heart rate monitors, it says we are working hard, but what we aren’t doing is committing to things flat out and making each thing really work. Today we were again just a little bit error strewn and that’s what we need to sort out.”

Certainly the injection of fresh talent off the bench during the second half seemed to ignite the Exeter fires and the Chiefs coach admitted those brought on helped to add something.

“They all added a bit of go forward,” he added. “Damian Welch came on and really secured the line-out; Kai [Horstmann] was very good and won a couple of crucial penalties and got us on the front foot. Also, Harry Williams did well and I thought the pack of forwards who had to score at the end, they really went for it and it came through big for us.

“That’s what I want from the players. I want to be able to select from a group of guys who are walking around with their heads up, chests out and saying pick me. I don’t want to wait until halfway through next week for us to start looking like a team again. I want the guys to decide now about how they turn up and train on Tuesday.

“They’ve got a bit of a break until then and I want to see them turn up with a bit of character, a bit of spunk about them, and actually stand there and look like a rugby team who are going to go out there and chuck themselves around a bit. That is what we are lacking a bit at the moment.

“Yes, we have shown some character today - and if the last conversion goes over it would have been a huge result for us - but would we have felt any better about ourselves? I don’t know. I just feel we have to stand strong, work hard and make that big performance happen.”