Match Reaction - Rob Baxter

By Mark Stevens
30/1/22

Exeter Chiefs Director of Rugby, Rob Baxter, refused to be too downbeat despite seeing his side slip to an 18-14 loss at London Irish in the Gallagher Premiership.

Converted scores for Olly Woodburn and Patrick Schickerling had given the Chiefs a dream start at the Brentford Community Stadium, only for the Exiles to hit back with scores of their own from Matt Cornish and James Stokes, as well as eight points from the boot of fly-half Paddy Jackson.

Irish led 18-14 at the turn and controlled long periods of the second half. However, neither side could add to their tally and it was the hosts who were able to hold out for the win, which ensured a first top-flight double over the Chiefs in 11 years.

“Of course we’re disappointed to have lost the game,” said Baxter at the final whistle. “That said, we have got to be careful it’s not just about wins and losses. Wins are great and losses are bad – and had we come away with something out of that periods of pressure we had late on to score – obviously I would have been delighted.

“We had fought and fought on out try-line and in other areas to hold them out but, ultimately, they had a lot of control in that second half which was largely down to mistakes that we made.

“Right now, it is those numerous errors that are mounting up and really hurting us. It’s not allowing us to have that continunity that our game is all about. When we are good and we have that continunity, we move up the field, we puts teams under continued pressure and we really thrive as a team. As I said, we’re struggling to have that at the moment and it’s costing us.”

With the Chiefs shy of a number of key first team stars due to international call-ups and unavailability, Baxter has made no secret of the fact that it will be up to others within the ranks to step forward and drive the club onwards and upwards.

“We have to look to get better each week,” added Baxter. “This week, we’ve had a decent week in terms of training and if you look our warm-up today and the first 20 minutes of the game, you would have seen a lot of good stuff from us. Then – and this is kind of where we are at the moment – we drew breath and that gave London Irish a bit of confidence and a bit of momentum that they needed.

“Suddenly they realised that if they kept the ball, they carried hard, then things would happen for them. By doing that, that pressure turned into penalties for them and they hauled themselves back into the game.

“That period just before half time is as good a tale of the game as anything. There we are, camped on London Irish’s line, pressing hard in attack, but then we go a little soft, get turned over and they are able to clear down field and get that score just before the break. That was effectively like a 14-point turnaround.

“When you see what then happened in the second half, it’s proved to be the defining moment in the match.”

Now the Chiefs must regroup again this week and prepare for the visit of Wasps to Sandy Park next Saturday (3pm).

“As I just said to the lads in the changing rooms, we have to come back in next week and look to be better,” said Baxter. “That means coming in on Monday and being prepared to work hard, train hard and put into place the things we are good at. This is not a low point in our season, it’s far from that. We’ve got a losing bonus point away from home, but now we must go and collect four or five points next week. We need to get ourselves on that upward curve again.”