Baxter says the best is yet to come from Exeter Chiefs

Head coach Rob Baxter was happy to salute his side’s latest Aviva Premiership victory over London Wasps, but he still believes his Exeter Chiefs side have yet to hit top form this season, writes Mark Stevens.

The Chiefs maintained their unbeaten home record in the top flight as they overcame Wasps 30-23 at Sandy Park thanks to tries from Chris Whitehead, Haydn Thomas and Phil Dollman, as well as 15 points from the boot of leading points -scorer Gareth Steenson.

Exeter’s win – their sixth in the Premiership this term – not only helped lift the Chiefs back into the division’s top five, but condemned Dai Young’s visitors to their third successive loss on Devon soil.

With little to choose between the two teams in a hugely entertaining first period, Wasps were unable after the break to rediscover the same form that brought them converted tries for Elliot Daly and Tom Varndell, as well as two penalties and two conversions for Lee Thomas.

In the end, it took a last-gasp penalty from replacement Tommy Bell to ensure they headed home with a losing bonus point. For Baxter, though, this latest success was again another one to savour.

He said: “I’m delighted with the result and I’m also pleased that we are ticking along well. I’ve just said to the guys, I still don’t think we’ve hit top form yet because we have actually performed a bit better at home than we did today, but at the same time I can also see there is still a bit in the tank for us.”

Having led early through two Steenson penalties, the Chiefs twice had to hit back from going behind to tries from Daly and Varndell to establish parity by the break. Indeed, it was Varndell’s try that had everybody talking during the interval.

The England international was able to cross for his ninth score of the season, even though it appeared fellow winger Christian Wade had shipped a blatant forward pass to his colleague in the build-up.

Baxter, though, was encouraged by the way his side – victorious in their last five league and cup matches – reacted to falling behind to both scores.

“I am massively pleased with the character of the players to come back from some of the hammer blows they suffered,” said Baxter, “particularly the soft try, which was probably from a knock-on and a forward pass.

“Sometimes you see players in other teams looking at the big screens and think they have been hard done by and they fall apart for ten minutes. What did we do? We went straight down the other end of the pitch and scored a try to even things up and that, ultimately, was the making of the game for us. We just got on with it, which is a great characteristic to have.”

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