Match Reaction - Rob Baxter
By Mark Stevens
12/3/23
Rob Baxter said he was proud of his Exeter Chiefs team as they returned to winning ways with a 24-5 victory over Newcastle Falcons in the latest round of Gallagher Premiership action at Sandy Park.
Having been humbled 40-5 by Harlequins at Twickenham the week previous, the Chiefs edged themselves back into the play-off picture thanks to a penalty try and further scores from Dan Frost, Jack Nowell and Sam Simmonds.
It wasn’t the prettiest of victories for the Devonians, who lost both Ian Whitten and Aidon Davis to yellow cards, but it mattered not come the final whistle.
The Falcons led 5-0 thanks to a Mateo Carreras score, but that would be their only reward on a day when they found their normally reliable driving maul quashed by the hosts.
“Without doubt we weren’t great in some aspects of the game, yet we’ve come away with a four-try, bonus point win at home in difficult conditions,” said Baxter. “Newcastle would probably agree to that too, they only got the one try, so it shows you how difficult it was to play out there. That said, they definitely caused us some issues in that first half and again at the start of the second half. Equally, we also caused ourselves a fair few issues around our discipline.
“I think that’s the key, there is obviously a mental thing going on around the pressure of where we stand in the Premiership. I’ve just said to a couple of the coaches, if we had gone four or five wins and we were sitting in the top two, we would look at a win like that and say ‘job done’ and we would move on and not worry too much about it.
“As it was, every penalty we gave away felt like a nightmare, that’s just how it feels. It would have felt the same for the players on the pitch, where they all suddenly get quite edgy about things. In a way, I’m actually quite proud of the players for the way they came through it because the circumstance is what is creating the issues for us. We have created a lot of those ourselves, so I’m pleased we have come through it and that we will be able to review the game with that in mind.
“At the end, you saw them kind of free themselves up and play some really nice stuff. We were the side who were heaping all the pressure on and crossing the line. It was Newcastle who were hanging on by their fingernails, trying not to concede three or four tries. That’s the mental situations we have got ourselves in, so we just need to address that to make life simpler for ourselves.”
Certainly Baxter and his fellow coaches will be keen to address Exeter’s high penalty count which, especially in the first half, allowed the Falcons to pin themselves deep behind enemy lines. To their credit, the Chiefs proved miserly in defence, holding at bay their rivals, who on three occasions at least declined kicks at goal in pursuit of greater reward.
“I said to the coaches, if today’s game was just about mauls, we dominated the game,” added Baxter. “Unfortunately, there is 95 metres in between that you have to deal with and that wasn’t great for either team. In fact, Newcastle looked the more threatening in that first half, but I thought the forwards and the work Rob Hunter has done organising them was bang on. We committed a lot of energy to it, simply because we knew it would be a big part of the game.
“The problem was we shouldn’t have had to defend those things had we shown more discipline in that middle third. Every time we got to that area, we literally gave up a penalty and we were backing in our 22 defending. That was the tale of the first half, but then we get one break out and we score. That was obviously a very important try for us and that meant we could have a really clear talk at half time.
“The key thing, however, is that we make sure the boys enjoy themselves. A five-point win in the Premiership is precious.”