Exeter tackle damning accusation about them and new drop-out rule
Rob Baxter has laid bare his exasperation that the new goal-line drop-out rule is a major reason why Exeter haven’t been as dominant as they were in recent campaigns. The Chiefs currently find themselves sixth on the Gallagher Premiership table, 18 points behind leaders Leicester following five defeats in a dozen matches.
They have also had their Champions Cup hopes dented by a defeat last month at Glasgow but director of rugby Baxter has insisted there is no truth whatsoever in the allegation that Exeter are suffering due to one particular law change introduced for the 2021/22 season.
Whereas previously an attacking team that got held up over the try line without grounding the ball was given the put-in at a five-metre scrum to restart play, possession is now handed over to the defending team who are allowed to kick a drop-out from their goal line.
The insinuation around the Premiership is that the attacking threat of Exeter has been blunted because of this rule change but Baxter was adamant that wasn’t the case.
Instead of buying into the accusation, he outlined that the Chiefs’ problem wasn’t that they were getting held up over the line and surrendering possession. The issue was that they aren’t getting close enough to the line in the first place to be in a position to score tries.
"The guy who had been getting the headlines – and rightly so – was Alex Dombrandt"
– Rob Baxter has told @heagneyl ??? what he makes of Sam Simmonds' Exeter form#Exeter #GallagherPrem #EnglandRugby https://t.co/ze3bVeqQgq
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) January 13, 2022
Baxter has a point. Previously, the Exeter try tally regularly used to be one of the most envious in the league but they have only scored 35 tries in their dozen league outings so far, a strike rate eclipsed by six rival clubs while another opponent has that same number of five-pointers. “I said this at a members forum the other day and it raised a laugh because a lot of people keep talking about it as us being held up over the try line and it has caused a bit of an issue for us.
“I actually said, ‘Well, it hasn’t caused a problem because we haven’t been getting over the line, you see what I mean?’ The goal-line drop is only an issue if you get held up over the try line – we haven’t been getting that far,” surmised Baxter, speaking ahead of Saturday’s Sandy Park rematch with Glasgow in Europe.
“I said this at the start of the season: If teams have to kick goal-line drop-outs because we keep getting over the try line and getting held up we will probably be winning the game by about 50 points. You don’t get over the try line loads of times and not get it grounded. Our biggest problem is we haven’t been getting over the try line.
“Yes, there are elements of things we have tweaked but if anything I would say our biggest issue is trying to stay ahead of the game or to keep progressing and keep trying to score tries in different ways.
“Actually, some teams are very single-minded in how they score now. Gloucester is a perfect example. Gloucester and Leicester have very much got the best mauls in the Premiership now. They are single-minded and know what they are doing. No one is questioning them has the goal-line drop-out changed it because they have gone to a more focused driving game. This is what I am saying to you.
“The goal-line drop-out itself, has it prevented Gloucester from having a successful maul? It hasn’t because they are doing it well. It wouldn’t prevent us from having a successful maul or a successful pick-and-go game if we were doing it well – we just have to do it better than we are doing it. The rule itself is not affecting us because we are having very few taken against us. We have actually hardly received any goal-line drop-outs.”
Comments on RugbyPass
late hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
4 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
24 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
24 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
24 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
24 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
9 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
9 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
28 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
24 Go to comments