Baxter's joy at Tigers win
By Mark Stevens
1/1/18
Rob Baxter was full of praise for his Exeter Chiefs side as they wrapped up a memorable 2017 with a bonus point victory over visiting Leicester Tigers at a packed Sandy Park.
With little to choose between the sides at the break, the Chiefs led 6-3, the reigning Aviva Premiership champions turned on the style in the second period, battling against the elements to score four tries through Don Armand, Henry Slade, Jonny Hill and Jack Yeandle.
Exeter’s victory, their tenth of the league season so far, meant they maintained their ten-point cushion at the top of the table and condemned the Tigers to a sixth straight loss, their worse sequence of results in over 50 years.
Naturally, a delighted Baxter heralded the efforts of his players during his post-match briefing. He said: “Fair play to the players, all we challenged them with at half time was to keep things simple, do what we do, and ram it home with maximum intensity as best we could.
“We kind of felt as the game wore on, and as players got more fatigued, the big collisions and the line-speed they had would start to die a little bit bit. As you saw, that started to happen in the second half, especially after the long passage of multi-phase play that led to our first try.
“Again, I have to give the players great credit for everything they took on at half time and the way they played in the second half, simply because they put a lot physical endeavour into the second half, and we had to weather two big pressure moments from Leicester on our line. We did that and both led to turnovers and Leicester getting nothing. After we weathered those two moments and got our try, we then looked like a side who knew how to win the game.”
Baxter continued: “That was largely energy based around our kick chase, our repeat sets of line speed defence, and just capitalising when we had the ball. As coach I can’t praise them just for the second 40 minutes, I have to praise them for the whole game because there is always a wearing down process against a good Premiership side. A good side won’t just fall over in front of you, you have to break them down, wear them down, and create moments for yourself.”
Exeter’s victory not only cemented their position at the top of the standings heading into 2018, but it also helped to avenge their defeat by the Tigers at Welford Road back in late September. The win also put the gloss on what has been a magnificent 12 months for the Chiefs, the highlight of course being lifting the Premiership crown for the first time at Twickenham in May.
“In sport it doesn’t matter how good the past was, you have to look to the future, that is why you come and watch each week,” explained Baxter. “If it was the same every week, nobody would come and watch. The important thing for us is not to focus too much on what 2018 will bring, but lets get focused on what training will bring on Tuesday.
“We’ll go home now, break this game down as we always do. Hopefully everyone has a few beers, decompresses a little bit and enjoys New Year’s Eve. Then we’ll all have a headache tomorrow and then get on with things and make sure Tuesday is a good training day, because ultimately that will lead us to being successful at Newcastle next week. That is all we can do, after which the hope is the rest of the season goes as well as this.”