Match Reaction - Rob Baxter
By Mark Stevens
30/10/21
Rob Baxter told his Exeter Chiefs players to savour their latest Gallagher Premiership win after they came from behind to defeat Gloucester 16-13 at Kingsholm on Friday night.
Having started brightly to lead 6-0 through two Harvey Skinner penalties, the Chiefs would go in 13-6 down at the turn as the home side hit back with a converted try from Jack Singleton and two penalties of their own from Adam Hastings.
In what was a full-blooded contest throughout, it was the Chiefs who hauled in the deficit during the second period, scoring tries from forwards Alec Hepburn and Will Witty to head home with the points.
And for Baxter, it was the perfect response in the wake of their home loss to London Irish the previous weekend.
“I guess the nicest thing about tonight is that it almost feels like one of those wins in the early years of the Premiership,” said the Chiefs Director of Rugby. “Going away to a place like Gloucester and securing a hard-fought win, it’s an incredible feeling, and I’ve just told the boys to bottle that feeling up.
“What the last 12 months has shown is that you should never stop enjoying winnings games of rugby. It should be a very special thing, something you cherish, because it’s a privilege to play in games and occasions like this, plus you get the chance to feel like the guys do now in the changing rooms.
“Personally, I don’t care if they don’t remember the game, but I do want them to remember the feeling from it.”
The win lifted the Chiefs into the top five of the division and quickly put to bed the disappointment of Exeter’s previous showing against the Exiles.
“Of course there are things we can work on, especially in that last ten minutes when we got in front, but then got a bit edgy and started to do things we perhaps didn’t need to do,” explained Baxter. “That said, I don’t want to rip the game to pieces and try and create the perfect game, simply because today was not about that.
“It was more about us going out there and showing energy, emotion, a bit of fight and just competing until the very end, which is exactly what we did. In any game, if you have those qualities on show, then you are always going to give yourself a chance to win.”
Baxter warned, however, that this latest success must be built upon and that his side can ill afford to take their foot off the pedal ahead of next Saturday’s visit of Newcastle Falcons to Sandy Park.
“As a group we can’t have that pause, where we think we have put things right. We had three games where we thought we had put it right, but then put in a pretty lacklustre performance against London Irish. We need to learn from that experience and we need to drag our home supporters with us into this journey the season will bring.”