Match Reaction - Rob Baxter
By Mark Stevens
19/12/21
Rob Baxter has told his Exeter Chiefs squad to embrace the challenges the New Year will bring, after they were left to lick their wounds following a 22-7 loss to Glasgow Warriors in their latest Heineken Champions Cup clash.
The Chiefs suffered their first loss in four games as they were undone by the boot of Ross Thompson and a converted Jonny Matthews try in the fog at Scotstoun.
No.8 Sam Simmonds added another try to his impressive tally of touchdowns, but it was scant reward on a day when the Devonians were distinctly second best.
“We were in the fight for most of the game, but I can stand here and claim we should have won that game when we coughed up as much ball as we did today,” said Baxter at the final whistle.
“Credit to Glasgow, they pressed us in defence and had real strength in the contact areas, but I’ve not seen us give up the ball like that in a long time. Some of it was forced, but some of it wasn’t, and that was the stuff that really killed us at times today.”
With the game engulfed by heavy fog throughout, it was never going to be a pre-Christmas cracker. However, there was little to choose between the two teams at the break, Thompson’s solitary penalty giving the Warriors a 3-0 lead at the turn.
Thompson would extend that lead to 12-0 with three more penalties in the second half, before Simmonds brought life back into the Exeter cause with his touchdown - converted by brother Joe - with just under ten minutes remaining.
However, a fifth Thompson penalty, coupled with Matthews’ late score, meant the Chiefs headed home without any reward from their trip North of the Border.
“First half, we worked very hard and we were very much in the game at 3-0,” explained Baxter. “It was a good, competitive Heineken Cup game, where defences were on top. Our problem, though, was that we couldn’t string any passages of play together to stretch Glasgow. A lot of that was down to the work they did, but we didn’t do enough ourselves to cause them any real problems.”
Despite the loss, the Chiefs Director of Rugby was quick to stress that both the Gallagher Premiership and the Heineken Champions Cup remain firmly in the sights of his side - and that the New Year will offer plenty for his team to chase.
“I’ve just said to the lads in the changing room, one thing we do at Exeter is we fight to the death in every competition,” he added. “We are nowhere near out of either competition and I am actually excited by where we have been heading over these last three or four weeks.
“What we have to do now is make sure today is just a blip and that we stay on that upward curve that we have created. There are challenges right now for the squad, but that’s the same for any team out there. What we have do is embrace those challenges and look to go after them as I know we can.”
And those challenges start in earnest after Christmas when the Chiefs tackle Bath in the Premiership Rugby Cup on December 27, quickly followed by the visit of Bristol Bears to Sandy Park on New Year’s Day.