Baxter praises character of his Chiefs
By Mark Stevens
27/12/20
Rob Baxter praised the character of his Exeter Chiefs side as they maintained their perfect start to the new Gallagher Premiership season.
The defending champions put to one side recent disruptions caused by a Covid-19 outbreak at the club to make it four wins from four as they saw off rivals Gloucester 28-20 at Sandy Park.
Free-scoring No.8 Sam Simmonds bagged two of his side’s four tries on the day, taking his seasonal tally to eight in the Premiership already, whilst there were further touchdowns for Jonny Gary and Ollie Devoto.
Simmonds’ younger brother, Joe, completed the job for the Chiefs, landing conversions to all four scores to ensure the Devonians will head into the New Year top of the pile.
Having seen their Heineken Champions Cup encounter against Toulouse cancelled the previous week due to theoutbreak - and build-up for this latest fixture severely disrupted, the fact the Chiefs were able to able to deliver another maximum haul underlined the strength that exists within Baxter’s first team squad.
Inspired by Sam and Joe Simmonds, their response was to overcome a shaky opening and post a fourth successive bonus-point victory that equals the record for a best start to the season held by Saracens.
“It wasn’t an amazing game of rugby and it was never going to be,” admitted Baxter at the final whistle. “The squad that played today has not trained together for two weeks.
“If I’m being honest, I don’t think we had an energy 80-minute performance in us, so the character we showed pulled us through. Some of those lads had virtually no time on the training field in two weeks, yet we scored four tries against another Premiership side.
“Some of the players out there were involved in the Covid scenario a week or so ago and they pulled themselves together and won a game of rugby. We did have to dig in and we did that because we defended well in periods. They all fronted up and delivered the result.”
As has been he case for much of the current campaign, the Simmonds brothers were again front and centre for the Chiefs, who were once again able to welcome a crowd of 2,000 fans into Sandy Park for the second successive game.
“Both Simmonds boys played really well again, but everybody fronted up,” admitted Baxter. “They’ve all had a different amount of training and a different amount of preparation and different effects from what we’ve been through.
“We’re actually going to spend our time talking about the positives and the qualities of the players who have come through a lack of training and preparation.
“The boys can have a couple of beers now, it’s Boxing Day and they have a couple of days off. Hopefully, they’ll pass the Covid test on Monday and hopefully we can get back to a more structured start to the season.”
The only downside on the day for the Chiefs was the sight of full-back Stuart Hogg hobbling out of the action with a hamstring injury. Baxter said it was ‘too early’ to tell the severity of the injury, but he said the Scottish captain would be scanned early this week to get a full prognosis.