Baxter upbeat despite defeat

Exeter Chiefs head coach Rob Baxter refused to be too downbeat despite seeing his side slip to a 21-16 defeat at Bath in the Aviva Premiership.

Bath fly-half George Ford produced a faultless display with the boot – landing six penalties and a drop-goal – to ensure the home side of the spoils in a pulsating Westcountry derby at The Rec.

Although undone for a sixth time in the top flight by their nearest and dearest, the Chiefs played their part as tries from Damian Welch and Dean Mumm, together with two penalties from Gareth Steenson, ensured they were at least able to head home with a losing bonus point for their efforts.

Afterwards, Baxter expressed the disappointment and frustration within the Chiefs camp, but hailed the commitment and quality shown by his troops in the heat of battle. “Obviously there is some disappointment and frustration there, simply because we have lost,” said Baxter.

“However, the reality is when you step back and look at the bigger picture, I’m relatively OK with large parts of today. I thought we were good from the start and we did what we said we would do. Yes, we weren’t perfect and ultimately we ended up losing, but I thought our attitude was spot on from the first whistle and we caused Bath a lot of problems.

“Fair play to Bath, they had to play well to beat us today. You know lets face facts they’re a good side and they have won the game, but as I just said to the players, it’s one of those days where you know you were quite good because you feel disappointed with individual moments that have occurred in the game. I know we’ll pick out individual moments where we lost a bit of momentum or something changed in the game as being crucial, but overall I thought our 80 minute performance was pretty complete and at a high level.”

In a gripping contest where the lead was constantly changing, the Chiefs – as Baxter said – will reflect on little moments where things could easily have gone the other way. “Without doubt that is the strongest Bath team we have faced since we’ve been in the Premiership,” added Baxter.

“They are playing well, they are confident, yet we really rattled into them from the outset. Looking back it could have gone either way, but for one or two moments. Obviously their goal kicker has had a fantastic day, but on another day we may have won by two or three scores, that was how close things were out there."

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Pictures: Exeter Rugby Club/Pinnacle Photo Agency