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Rob Baxter left fuming by key decision as Exeter lose at Leicester

By PA
Rob Baxter looks on before Exeter's loss at Leicester (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

Exeter director of rugby Rob Baxter bemoaned a key refereeing decision which went against his side as they failed to pick up their first away Gallagher Premiership win this season. After trailing 3-14 at the interval, the Chiefs dominated the first 25 minutes of the second half to lead 15-14 before a contentious sin-binning of Will Rigg turned the game.

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An illegal challenge on England full-back Freddie Steward saw Exeter reduced to 14 men and Leicester capitalised by scoring two converted tries in Rigg’s absence to triumph 15-28. Olly Cracknell, Cameron Henderson, Ollie Hassell-Collins and Ben Youngs scored Leicester’s tries, with Handre Pollard converting all four.

For Exeter, pieces of magic from Henry Slade created their two tries for Tom Wyatt, with Josh Hodge converting one. Slade also added a penalty. “Obviously Will Rigg’s yellow card was one of key aspects of the game as we had just taken the lead for the first time,” Baxter said.

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    “The referee [Christophe Ridley] was right on the spot and his original assessment was just a knock-on, but then the TMO gets involved and the incident was upgraded to a yellow card. It was an in-between decision as clearly there was a competition of sorts to secure the ball and, if encouraging competition is what we want, then it is a difficult decision to take.

    “However, we still have to take responsibility for our actions as we dropped too many balls and were inaccurate. Overall, Leicester won the aerial battle, but we played a bigger part in the contest than we did when we came here last year.

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    “I still feel we are an improving side, so having taken the lead and then ending up with nothing is particularly hard to take.”

    Leicester’s bonus-point win saw them move up to third in the Premiership table, which pleased director of rugby Michael Cheika. “We have had a really tough up-and-down period, but this win keeps us firmly in the mix. We didn’t play great, but ended up with a bonus point.

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    “It wasn’t a free-flowing game, far from it, but it was a very physical one as Exeter have a big pack. We dominated three-quarters of the match, but we lost the third quarter as they were more physical and were making the hard yards during that period.

    “However, we showed good mentality to fight back, but Exeter are a fine side and I’m not quite sure how they haven’t won more games.”

    Leicester number eight Cracknell was the man of the match after scoring the first try in an all-action performance. The back-rower is dual-qualified for both England and Wales, and Cheika has no doubt he would make a fist of international rugby should the call come.

    “Olly is a diligent guy who is really physical and is becoming invaluable as he’s one of the best back-rowers in the game,” Cheika added. “He may not be flash but is very consistent and if they gave him a go at international level, he would definitely perform.”

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    Comments

    1 Comment
    T
    TM 89 days ago

    While Will Rigg yellow may seem contentious, I think yellow correct decision , but main contention was Hassell-Collins deliberate second knock-on in same movement just after. The first knock-on was trying to catch the ball, the second a deliberate tap forward as the ball most likely would have been caught by the Exeter player with clear run to the line. Austin Healey picked it up on commentary, but the TMO did not.

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    f
    fl 46 minutes ago
    Why Les Kiss and Stuart Lancaster can lead Australia to glory

    “He won a ECL and a domestic treble at the beginning of his career.”

    He won 2 ECLs at the beginning of his career (2009, 2011). Since then he’s won 1 in 15 years.


    “He then won 3 leagues on the bounce later in his career”

    He won 3 leagues on the bounce at the start of his career too - (2009, 2010, 2011).


    If we’re judging him by champions league wins, he peaked in his late 30s, early 40s. If we’re judging him by domestic titles he’s stayed pretty consistent over his career. If we’re judging him by overall win rate he peaked at Bayern, and was better at Barcelona than at City. So no, he hasn’t gotten better by every measure.


    “You mentioned coaches were older around the mid-2010’s compared to the mid-2000’s. Robson was well above the average age you’ve given for those periods even in the 90’s when in his pomp.”

    Robson was 63-64 when he was at Barcelona, so he wasn’t very old. But yeah, he was slightly above the average age of 60 I gave for the top 4 premier league coaches in 2015, and quite a bit above the averages for 2005 and 2025.


    “Also, comparing coaches - and their experiences, achievements - at different ages is unstable. It’s not a valid way to compare and tends to torpedo your own logic when you do compare them on equal terms. I can see why you don’t like doing it.”

    Well my logic certainly hasn’t been torpedoed. Currently the most successful premier league coaches right now are younger than they were ten years ago. You can throw all the nuance at it that you want, but that fact won’t change. It’s not even clear what comparing managers “on equal terms” would even mean, or why it would be relevant to anything I’ve said.


    “You still haven’t answered why Kiss could be a risker appointment?”

    Because I’ve been talking to you about football managers. If you want to change the subject then great - I care a lot more about rugby than I do football.

    But wrt Kiss, I don’t agree that 25 years experience is actually that useful, given what a different sport rugby was 25 years ago. Obviously in theory more experience can never be a bad thing, but I think 10 years of coaching experience is actually more than enough these days. Erasmus had been a coach for 13 years when he got the SA top job. Andy Farrell had been a coach for 9 when he got the Ireland job. I don’t think anyone would say that either of them were lacking in experience.


    Now - what about coaches who do have 25+ years experience? The clearest example of that would be Eddie Jones, who started coaching 31 years ago. He did pretty well everywhere he worked until around 2021 (when he was 61), when results with England hit a sharp decline. He similarly oversaw a terrible run with Australia, and currently isn’t doing a great job with Japan.

    Another example is Warren Gatland, who also started coaching full-time 31 years ago, after 5 years as a player-coach. Gatland did pretty well everywhere he went until 2020 (when he was 56), when he did a relatively poor job with the Chiefs, before doing a pretty poor job with the Lions, and then overseeing a genuine disaster with Wales. There are very few other examples, as most coaches retire or step back into lesser roles when they enter their 60s. Mick Byrne actually has 34 years experience in coaching (but only 23 years coaching in rugby) and at 66 he’s the oldest coach of a top 10 side, and he’s actually doing really well. He goes to show that you can continue to be a good coach well into your 60s, but he seems like an outlier.


    So the point is - right now, Les Kiss looks like a pretty reliable option, but 5 years ago so did Eddie Jones and Warren Gatland before they went on to prove that coaches often decline as they get older. If Australia want Kiss as a short term appointment to take over after Schmidt leaves in the summer, I don’t think that would be a terrible idea - but NB wanted Kiss as a long term appointment starting in 2027! That’s a massive risk, given the chance that his aptitude will begin to decline.


    Its kind of analagous to how players decline. We know (for example) that a fly-half can still be world class at 38, but we also know that most fly-halves peak in their mid-to-late 20s, so it is generally considered a risk to build your game plan around someone much older than that.

    168 Go to comments
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    AlanCriner 56 minutes ago
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    AlanCriner 1 hour ago
    Exeter look to Charlie Chapman to boost scrum-half options

    My name is Alan Criner, and I'm a resident of Toronto, CA. I'm a 45-year-old financial analyst who has always been cautious with my investments. However, in my quest to diversify my portfolio, I fell prey to a devastating fake crypto investment scam, losing 125,000 Canadian dollars' worth of Bitcoin. This traumatic experience sent my life into a downward spiral, leaving me depressed and feeling hopeless.

    Despite my repeated attempts to contact the account manager who initially approached me on Telegram, I was met with silence. They refused to provide any explanation or information, and I was locked out of my account on their website. The authorities were unable to assist me, as the scammers were untraceable.

    Just when I thought all was lost, my nephew, a Canadian government lawyer, introduced me to Morphohack Cyber Service, a reputable private investigator and crypto recovery company. I visited their website (www . morphohackcyber . com) and, after mustering the courage, contacted them. They listened attentively as I recounted my ordeal and educated me on the scam, revealing that numerous others had fallen victim to the same scheme.

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    0 Go to comments
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    N
    NB 3 hours ago
    Why Les Kiss and Stuart Lancaster can lead Australia to glory

    https://www.london.edu/think/how-claudio-ranieri-transformed-leicester-city


    He jts knew how to use that deep well of knowledge accumulate over many years of management. A true Moneyball story!

    168 Go to comments
    f
    fl 3 hours ago
    Why Les Kiss and Stuart Lancaster can lead Australia to glory

    “Two comparable achievements 15 years apart (at different clubs in different leagues) represent failure and not continued success for an elite level coach/manager? Not even a hint of consistency? Just gradual, inevitable decline? And all because he is in his sixth decade?”

    Why don’t you try reading what I wrote before you start inventing a load of other random things that I didn’t say. I said “Pep hasn’t gotten better with age”. He hasn’t. I don’t think he’s got much worse, and yeah, he’s been fairly consistent over his career and has had more success than almost any other coach. But he hasn’t gotten better.


    “You’ve missed that Mourinho’s early start in football was as a translator for Bobby Robson (ironically a much older manager at the time!).”

    I was actually aware of that. I didn’t mention it because it wasn’t relevant to the fact that Mourinho - aged 52 - had more experience than Arteta does at 43. It also isn’t ironic that Bobby Robson was a much older manager at the time - it actually confirms by point that a lot of the top football managers used to be older than they are today.


    “You suggested that Les Kiss would not be suited to an international coaching role because of his age profile…that seemed to relate to rugby”

    That did relate to rugby. Let me walk you through the thread…


    NB suggested that Les Kiss should become Australia head coach in 2027.

    I said: “Given the drop off so many top coaches seem to experience as they get older (e.g. Jones, Gatland) Kiss could be a riskier appointment than you’d think!”

    NB said: “Drawing a parallel with the NFL and NBA, plenty of coaches stay well into their 70’s”

    I said: “Not all sports are going the same way though” then gave the example of football.


    The example of football was introduced in order to make the point that the age profile of managers is not the same in every sport. If you had read the thread you were replying to you would know this!

    168 Go to comments
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