Saints win delights Baxter
By Mark Stevens
24/2/18
It may not have been the vintage stuff of earlier this season, but Exeter Chiefs picked up their first Aviva Premiership victory of 2018 as they edged a hard-fought encounter with Northampton Saints 31-30 at Sandy Park.
A converted last-gasp try from No.8 Thomas Waldrom helped Rob Baxter’s side not only return to the top of the Aviva Premiership, but at the same time end a three-game losing streak for the defending champions.
With ten minutes remaining it appeared the Chiefs could be slipping to a fourth successive Premiership defeat as the Saints led 30-17 thanks in the main to tries from Rob Horne, Ben Foden and Harry Mallinder, plus the boot of fly-half Piers Francis.
The Chiefs, however, never gave in and having added to an early penalty try by adding a second through Alec Hepburn, it was late scores from Don Armand and Waldrom they helped pave the way for Exeter’s 11th league win of the campaign.
Post-match, a relieved Baxter talked of his satisfaction at returning to winning ways, but admitted his side were still not firing on all cylinders.
“Five points at any stage of the season in the Premiership is something to be cherished, but I am not massively happy with our whole level of performance,” he said. “However, we showed in that last quarter how we want to see four quarters played by Exeter Chiefs.
“We were dominant in pretty much every area, we created pressure in all the areas we would want to, and everything that is good about us when we are playing well we saw in that last quarter, and even then it wasn’t perfect, but the pressure just mounted and mounted. That’s the bit we have just got to free the guys up to see, and get them working at.
“In the first half, as soon as we got into the opposition 22, it just led to a mistake, and it was just odd, and for us to then score a try and concede points so quickly afterwards is going to take a bit of fathoming out and lead to a bit of a discussion.
“I predicted we might be a little bit nervy and edgy, based on the pressure that comes from three successive losses, and in the first half, the number of half breaks and breaks we made where the next thing that happened was we dropped the ball or lost possession was scary. But overall, for the lads to keep working and keep fighting is hugely positive.
“We have taken another huge step towards being at the right end of the table at the end of the season, but we are going to have to play better in bigger games, and obviously one of those is next week at home to Saracens. We have called on a lot of players recently, and a lot of them have stood up today and they made a difference in the end.
“The guys who I can’t talk highly enough about, and who I am delighted for, are people like Joe Simmonds, Stu Townsend and Marcus Street. For young lads to be on the field in that last crucial period of the game and for us to score those two tries to win is just absolutely fantastic for them, and that’s when you see dreams being made, and they are potentially guys who can keep driving us forward for years to come.”
Baxter is hopeful his side’s victory can now act as a catalyst to kick on as the season enters into it’s final stretch.
“I am just hoping this gives us that little bit of something to move on from, and not move backwards,” added Baxter, who felt his side were still a little edgy after a testing few weeks of fixtures.
“I genuinely do think we are a little bit scared of losing the Premiership title, which sounds really odd, because it is not ours. You only get it when you win it at the end of the season. I am wondering whether a few guys are just a bit afraid of what they might give up, rather than having the absolute drive to go out and win it again, because that is certainly what we had at this time last season.
“It was all about what we have got to do to go and win it? And we look like we are playing a bit scared of losing it, and I think that is a mental factor we have just got to kick ourselves through, and it is going to take a little while.
“There just feels like there is an element of us just desperately trying not to lose, and I really want to avoid that, because there is no fun watching a team that is trying not to lose, but there is a lot of fun watching a team that is going out there to give everything they can to win a game, and we have just got to start feeling that again right across the board.”