Baxter praises fighting spirit
By Mark Stevens
9/12/19
Rob Baxter praised the fighting spirit of his Exeter Chiefs side after they maintained their winning sequence in the Heineken Champions Cup with a hard-fought 22-20 victory at Sale Sharks.
A penalty try, plus first half scores for Stuart Hogg and Luke Cowan-Dickie, helped pave the way for a third successive victory for the Devonians, who will face the Sharks again this Sunday at Sandy Park (1pm).
Sale played their part in an entertaining encounter at the AJ Bell Stadium, scoring tries of their own through Akker van der Merwe (2) and Jono Ross, but the Chiefs dug deep - particularly late on - to record a famous win that puts them four points clear at the top of Pool Two.
The Chiefs know they are now within touching distance of securing a place in the knock-out stages for only the second time in their history, but Baxter insists there is still plenty to do over the second half of qualifying.
“Over the years we’ve lost in some pretty strange circumstances in the Heineken Cup and we have come out on the bad side of a game like today more often than not,” said Baxter.“So, to be sat here now, three wins out of three, having collecting 14 out of a possible 15 points, if feels very good, especially with Glasgow going away to La Rochelle and winning yesterday - that put a bit of interesting pressure on us coming here today, but we’ve very much kept things in our own hands.”
After a dominant first half display, the Chiefs were certainly made to dig deep at times during the second half, much to the delight of their Director of Rugby.
“Sometimes you wonder if it’s the tough moments you have been through in the past that creates something like happened today,” added Baxter.“I mean, whereby you are clinging on a bit, but ultimately you come through it. I like to think that shows some of those qualities of those tough campaigns that the lads have been through before.
“I won’t lie, though, it felt like the longest 10 minutes of my life right at the end and it felt like the clock was going backwards. Fair play to the boys, they’ve dug in when they needed to and they’ve come away to a tough away venue and won a tough game of rugby.
“As I just said to them, the good stuff that was out there today wasn’t the quality of rugby, it was more the grit and determination that they showed. We have come out on the wrong side of those games before, so it’s great to come out on the right side of it. It’s also great credit to the players because you kind of make those things happen a little bit.”
Although victorious, Baxter said there were areas of his side’s performance that he will address with them this week, particularly as they look to improve further.
“I’ve told the team to chill out and relax now, but I also told them not to be afraid and stop and think what was going through their mind going into the game, what they were thinking ahead of the second half, because whatever they were thinking, we didn’t quite get aligned,” continued Baxter.
“We lost our alignment a little bit today. I talk about it all the time, when we have 15 players aligned, I know we are very good. We lost it a bit today. Fortunately it’s not hurt us too bad, but luckily it hasn’t come back to haunt us either.
“The good thing is we play Sale again next week and there are improvements for us. It’s not like we have thrown the kitchen sink at it. We hung on at the end, there are improvements we can make, and we can play better.”
Baxter will also use this week to assess the fitness of his players, most notably summer signing Hogg who was forced off midway through the half after scoring his first-ever try for the club with a head injury.
“He failed his HIA (head injury assessment), but already he’s feeling better and that’s a positive sign. We can’t make any assessment right now, but we’ve start the recovery process, we will monitor him closely, and hopefully he will be fit for next week. It was a real shame to see him go off, especially when he was showing that much form. He was electric for that first quarter, but it’s one of those things. I thought thelads dealt with it well and on the plus side, Ollie Woodburn got some good game minutes and he’s up and running again.”