Baxter reacts to Euro loss
By Mark Stevens
8/12/18
Exeter Director of Rugby Rob Baxter admitted his Chiefs side had been ‘outplayed’ by rivals Gloucester as they slipped to a 27-19 loss in Round Three of this season’s Heineken Champions Cup.
The Cherry & Whites became the first side since Worcester Warriors back in February to emerge victorious from Sandy Park, producing a result that not only bolstered their own qualification hopes in Pool Two, but left their hosts still searching for a victory in the competition after three rounds.
Don Armand gave the Chiefs the dream start with a try on seven minutes, but that was a rare high point on an afternoon when the Devonians were distinctly second best, both collectively and individually.
Nic White and Tom Lawday both claimed converted second half tries for the Chiefs, but it was Gloucester who prospered claiming tries of their own through skipper Williams Heinz, Jaco Visagie and Ben Morgan, while Danny Cipriani and Billy Twelvetrees shared the kicking duties.
Post-game, Baxter had few complaints about the end result, which came a week after his side surrendered their unbeaten tag in the Gallagher Premiership with defeat away to Harlequins.
“I think first and foremost, you have to pay credit to Gloucester,” said Baxter. “Everyone knows it’s a difficult place to come and play. Conditions were difficult out there today, yet individually and collectively, Gloucester outplayed us.
“The element from our side which we have to address is there were so many moments where, as a coaching group sat in the stands, we kept wondering what we were trying to achieve from certain moments. The big question we have to ask as a group is why are we not mentally getting our heads around the whole Heineken Cup thing quite yet?
“Whether we are convincing ourselves that things have to be so different is actually making us quite inefficient as a team. Normally we win things because we are kind of like a machine. We’re efficient, the players are the cogs within that machine, and together we tend to run smoothly. However, it certainly didn’t feel like that for much of what we saw out there today.
“I thought we were quite bitty and that certain individuals were trying to change things and change the momentum which, it has to be said, hurt us a lot of the time. Add into the mix that our set-piece didn’t function, people were making some off decisions, we coughed up a lot of silly penalties, in the end all of that together has ultimately cost us.”
Unsure as to why the Chiefs can’t transform their domestic form into that of Europe, Baxter said he would need to look closely at the footage of the game to see where answers could be found.
“If it’s pressure, then I don’t mind that,” added Baxter. “As a team you have to go through pressure. Whether that comes from me, or by situations that coming along, if you under-perform then at some stage you need to sit down, assess why you under performed, and work to get better.
“As I said, if that’s down to pressure then fine.If it’s for other reasons, false ones at that, where you think you have to be different, then we need to sit down and we need to address those and get some clarity of thinking across a number of people.
“There were times out there today that really hurt us. The moment I remember which took the wind out of our sails was when Kev (Matt Kvesic) kicked the ball away in the first half.I’m not sure why he did it, but it led to a long-range try for them. Thankfully, we battled our way through the rest of the first half against the elements quite well.
“It was the second half, though, where if I was to watch it again with you now, I’d be saying ‘error, error, error’.We knocked the ball on, we kicked out on the full, we missed line-outs, we gave away soft penalties and our tackling was passive. I’m not going to lie, it’s going to take a bit of working out for me going through that game because there are going to be quite a lot of players who will be individually disappointed with what they’ve contributed out there today.”
With their European hopes in tatters, the Chiefs know for them to stand any remote chance of advancing into the latter stages, nothing less than maximum reward from their final three games will suffice. The first of those comes next Friday when they travel to Kingsholm for Part III of their trilogy against Gloucester.
“There is no reason we can’t put things right,” said a defiant Baxter.“We’ve got a great opportunity next week to go and put things right. I’ve just said to the lads there are 15 points to play for out on that field, and if we have anything about us, and we have those good qualities within us, then we should go out there and fight for every one of those points.
“If we lose and Gloucester outplay us, fine.But let’s make sure we don’t end up beating ourselves. Let’s go out there, play well and fight for those points because there is still a lot to play for.”