Baxter focussing on fundamentals

By Jack Lewis
26/10/21

Exeter Chiefs’ Rob Baxter remains pragmatic after a disappointing loss to London Irish, but the experienced Director of Rugby knows that one loss is no reason to panic.

“We probably aren’t where we want to be, but we’ve dealt with scenarios like this before and we’ve never dealt with them by having some ridiculous panic about it, we’ve dealt with them by being very honest and straightforward and by progressing the way we always have done.”

It’s testament to the confidence that Baxter has in the Chiefs setup that training this week has been about moving forward, looking ahead to a tough challenge at Kingsholm as Exeter face a Gloucester side who have found some good form early in the season.

“We're more disappointed with last week than the other games, not necessarily because of the result but because of the manner that we performed in, but we’ve put the London Irish game to bed and we’re setting ourselves some new targets this for this weekend.”

This Chiefs side have always prided themselves on performing the fundamentals of the game well and working hard for one another, core principles that have seen the men from the South West compete at the pinnacle of domestic rugby and the European game for consecutive seasons. For Baxter those essential elements are the focus points as his team look to re-establish momentum in this latest campaign.

“Whenever you’ve had a bit of a backwards step your next step forward isn’t to go all the way to being an amazing team within the space of a week. The first things we’ve got to focus back on are getting some foundational elements back in our game and then working from those foundations.”

One thing is never in doubt, Exeter’s director of rugby knows what it takes to compete at the top level, and he’ll be expecting his team to right the wrongs from the weekend as they head into the competitive winter block.