Bath’s dramatic win could give Chiefs emotional dent, says Baxter

Bath Rugby’s dramatic last-gasp win over Exeter Chiefs on Saturday 3rd January could give the Devonians an emotional dent.

Bath Rugby scored at the death to secure victory over Exeter Chiefs here at The Rec in Gallagher PREM Round 9 on Saturday 3rd January | Photo © Richard Briggs

So said Exeter’s director of rugby Rob Baxter after watching his side battle back from 26-0 behind to draw level in the Gallagher PREM Round 9 clash at The Rec, only to concede a try from the final play of the match and lose 33-26.

At his post-match press conference, Baxter said: “We’ve got to make sure, as a coaching group, they [the Exeter players] don’t take an emotional dent from this, because there’s no way they should take an emotional dent from getting two points away from home against Bath.

“But it’s the first time in a few weeks where we haven’t come through at the death and we’ve had to fight back – we fought back at Saracens and we came through, we fought back at Sale and we came through. This could have a little bit of a dent, we’ve got to make sure it doesn’t happen.

“Big credit to all the lads. They’re working extremely hard. They’re excited about this season, you can tell it, and they’re prepared to work very hard for it.”

A 20-minute red card for Exeter’s Campbell Ridl early on enabled the Blue, Black & White to surge into their big lead. Ridl was banished after an aerial challenge on Henry Arundell.

Baxter said: “Campbell’s got everything wrong. He just follows the ball too much.

“He doesn’t really try to assess where the space is going to, when he should be taking off, when the opposition’s going to be taking off.

“Those things now, you’ve got to have a sense for.

“And it’s difficult, because you’ve got to do it, you’ve got to have a feel for the space that’s closing in front of you while having a feel for where the ball is.

“He’s a young guy, he’s made a mistake, it’s as simple as that. But no-one’s going to punish him for doing that.

“We’ll just get him on the field and do plenty of practice, and he’ll have to get on with things.

“You have to have an aerial competition – sometimes the players are going to get it wrong, simple as that really.

“We got the ball where we wanted to, even with 14 men, a couple of times.

“It felt like we just had to get a few things together and we could be very positive, but our ability to get take control in that 20 minutes with 14 men was a bit disappointing.

“Our enthusiasm was almost killing us.

“Having that composure, just to go ‘OK, we’re going have to concede a little bit here, we’re not going to be able to try to win every breakdown’.

“If we could just get control, minutes at a time, of the play, we wouldn’t have had to knock a lot off that 26 points.

“You knock one try off, and we maybe get territory, get a penalty, knock it over, 10-point shift there, and the game is a completely different scenario, once we get back to 15-all.

“We’re pretty good when we’re down, and I’m not sure whether that sometimes brings the best out of us.

“Whether we would have been as good as we became in the last 60, if it had been a 15-15 arm wrestle for 80, I’m not sure.

“But as it was, we’re there fighting at the death for three points.

“I was a bit disappointed Sladey [Henry Slade] didn’t knock one of his conversions [after Exeter’s third try] over – because he’s done that all season – which would’ve put us in the lead at the death, which would’ve been interesting. But it was just one of those things.

“Fair play to Bath, they kept the ball 30-odd phases, without erroring [for their winning try], which shows a lot of character from them.

“We defended for that period of time without really erroring until they actually finally got us over the line.

“Fair play to us, I suppose, they’re fighting it out, and that’s probably the story of the game, they just had that little bit of composure at the right time, so it just was enough to see them home, I think.

“[The Exeter players] know their roles, they know where to put their energy. That’s why that 20-minute period is a little frustrating, because our energy just went everywhere, our energy is completely dissipated.

“If you just said to me beforehand, coming away to Bath, we’re both coming in the top four, it’s going be a big game, they lost to Northampton at home last week, we’re going to come away with two points, you’d go ‘We must’ve been having a pretty effective day’ – so that part of it, I’m fine with.

“It’s like when you watch The Great Escape, isn’t it? I mean, watching the game again tonight. And I know Steve McQueen isn’t going to get over the barbed wire. But I’m still going to watch.

“That’s what it’s going to be like. I’m going to be watching those 30-odd pick and goes at the end, going ‘Someone’s going to drop it in a minute’ – I know they don’t, but I’m still going to have to watch it. And I think that’s how we best describe that game, really.

“It was compelling viewing. But we haven’t quite got there in the end.”