Ugly win pleases Baxter
By Mark Stevens
28/10/17
Exeter Chiefs Director of Rugby Rob Baxter praised his side’s mental strength as they recorded a hard-fought 10-6 victory over Sale Sharks to move back to the top of the Aviva Premiership.
Whilst it wasn’t the vintage, free-flowing stuff from the defending champions, it mattered little as the Chiefs backed up their European Champions Cup win in Montpellier five days earlier with this latest success.
Lachie Turner’s second half try, plus five points from the boot of Gareth Steenson, proved enough for the Chiefs to notch up their fifth win in seven league starts, while Sale countered with a penalty in each half from South African Faf De Klerk.
Post-match, Baxter gave his assessment of events at the AJ Bell Stadium, saying: “It feels strange for me to saying this from a coaching perspective, but it was just about the points today. It feels a little odd to not talk about performance, but we did not discuss the performance in the changing room.
“Most of the guys are going on a 10-day break now because a lot of them are not going to play in that first Anglo-Welsh Cup game. The last couple of weeks have, in particular, been a real emotional battle for us, rather than a physical one, and we saw the dregs of that today.
“There was no way it was a vintage Exeter performance. Obviously, Sale have contributed to that as well, but I actually thought there was only 10 or 15 minutes in the second half where we looked like the Exeter I watch on a regular basis.
“Having said that, sometimes when you play Montpellier on a Sunday and then come to Sale on a Friday night, actually the biggest test is the test of your mental strength and your character and we passed that with flying colours. Because of that, I am delighted with this first block of games.
“We have re-iterated to the players over and over again that this first block of games didn’t end with the second European game, it ended after tonight, and we’ve come through pretty well and we’ve give ourselves every opportunity to be first or second in the Premiership come the end of this weekend.”
Although it was a tough ask to turn around in just five days, Baxter was content with the way his players adapted to the situation and stuck to task to achieve what could be a crucial four-point return come the end of the season.
“To be honest, I thought large parts of the game stood up very well for us tonight,” added the Chiefs boss “Tactically, I thought we were bang on. To have come here and think we can run the ball from everywhere - and try and make it a game that is all about energy and expenditure, like we normally do, would have been wrong for us.
“This week, we have taken a slightly different tactical turn on things and most of it worked well. Perhaps if we had covered up a couple of chip and chases, we would have been very happy, but we often talk about the fact that if a team have to kick the ball away to try and break you, you are doing a pretty good job.
“Like I said, most of what we did today has held up. Was it perfect? No. But as I said, when we break the game down and talk about what we need to work on, most of what went wrong tonight will be irrelevant on another day.”
Helping to lead the way for the Chiefs was captain Jack Yeandle, who Baxter singled out for praise, particularly in the first half.
“The guy who really stood up in the first half was Jack Yeandle because he probably carried us forward almost single-handedly,” continued Baxter. “Obviously when other guys started to take after half time, it gave us a bit more control.
“Did we capitalise on all of our moments? No, we didn’t
“Did we have to show some real fortitude at the end? Yes, we did.
“And did we manage that last 10 minutes of that game well? No, we managed it horrendously, but at this stage I hardly care.
“I won’t watch this game probably until Sunday or Monday, but I think as a group we all need to take our foot off the gas a little bit, take a breath, recharge, and then kick back at it again in a couple of days time.”