Baxter happy to take 'ugly' victory
By Mark Stevens
7/2/21
It wasn’t the prettiest of victories, but Exeter Chiefs Director of Rugby, Rob Baxter, won’t care one bit as his side maintained their top two placing in the Gallagher Premiership with a 15-9 win at Newcastle Falcons.
Tries from Sam Simmonds and Alex Cuthbert, plus a conversion and a penalty from Joe Simmonds, proved enough for the defending champions to sink their North East rivals, who countered with three penalties from the boot of full-back Joel Hodgson.
Exeter’s latest success, coupled with Bristol Bears loss to Sale Sharks on Friday, means the Chiefs have cut the lead at the top of the table to just two points - as well as ensuring back-to-back away wins for Baxter’s side.
At the final whistle, the Chiefs leader praised his side’s latest showing, but at the same time called for more quality in their play moving forward.
He said: “We’re getting involved in dogfights, aren’t we?
“Fair play, I think we have to have an expectation that teams are going to perform tough against us, which they certainly are. We are in a situation at the moment where I think we are tough, the guys are working exceptionally hard - and I am really pleased with the physical and emotional effort they are producing week in, week out - but I’ve just said to the lads we now need to add a little bit of quality and a little bit of confidence to what we are doing because we are actually ending up in dogfights, simply because we are not seeing situations off.
“You don’t need to be a genius to say some of the ball that went on the floor today is not acceptable for what you’d call a quality, frontline Premiership team. It’s simple catch and pass stuff, but I think it shows where we are at the moment. We are in a desperate place to win, but it’s taking away that little bit of relaxation you need around really performing quality plays.
“What we as coaches need to do is keep pushing that balance. I’ve just said to the lads, you as players, especially those in the leadership group, need to take charge and drive it through. As I said, there is not one thing I can say criticising what effort they have put in today. They’ve had a seven-hour bus trip, an early start, it’s cold, wet, we’ve got snow, yet we have come through and battled through for another important four-point win.
“These are the games when you have a big season, we won’t look back at them as vintage games, but this week and last [up at Worcester], they are eight valuable points we have collected. Look where we would be in the table without them, but see where we are because we have won them. That sometimes is the most important thing to remember.”
Certainly, Baxter and his fellow coaches will use this next week to help drum home the quality message a little further to his squad, who are bracing themselves for the visit of London Irish to Sandy Park this Saturday.
“We’ve got that little bit of quality to add,” added Baxter. “Some of that comes from us as coaches, but some of that has to come from the players to give us the confidence on the field to keep moving forward. Sometimes when we get edgy, quiet and disappointed with ourselves, it inhibits you next time around.
“What we have do is keep battling through that cycle because the good stuff will come sooner than we think. In all our best seasons, things have been built around battling through certain games. We have won Premierships based on some pretty awful games over the course of a season, so it’s important we build in the right way because the levels of physical ability are still very good, we just need to add the direction and accuracy, which will come over time.”
There was no such worry over the accuracy of Wales and British Lions winger Cuthbert, who was hugely impressive on his return to action for the first time since October.
His second half score underlined just what he can bring to the Chiefs attack and Baxter was delighted with the display of the 30-year-old
“I’m massively pleased for Alex because he’s scored a crucial try for us there today,” said Baxter. “It took some scoring, but he showed today the qualities of why we brought him to the club in the first place. He’s had an incredibly tough time with injuries, but I just hope and pray that’s the end of his injuries issues, because when he plays like that, he’s going to be a real handful.”