'We've taken a few knocks... It's only 13 months since we won the double'
Exeter director of rugby Rob Baxter is convinced that his team are now finding their mojo again after a late Sam Simmonds try at Bath earned a fifth victory in nine Premiership matches.
England number eight Simmonds touched down three minutes from time in a 23-16 win, brother Joe adding the key conversion and a last-minute penalty.
Baxter said: “We’ve taken a few knocks, including losing the final last year. We probably haven’t really got ourselves over that.
“It’s only 13 months since we won the double. We’re still dealing with some of that, deciding how we want to define ourselves as a group.
“But we’re coming together. We’ve won an away game. I’ll take that at any time.”
Josh Iosefa-Scott scored the Chiefs’ first try and Henry Slade kicked eight points, with Miles Reid crossing for Bath while Orlando Bailey converted and kicked three penalties.
Baxter added: “Every win is a good win for us at the moment. One thing we need to address more than anything is getting back to those core basics, about what being a rugby player is all about.
“It’s a privilege. We should be enjoying training hard, being on the bus together and enjoying playing games of rugby.
“We’ve probably lacked a little bit of vibrancy. I do think it’s there but it’s not going to come overnight. We’ve got to work at it.
“We were down 10-6 at half-time. We said the next 10 minutes was where we could make a difference and we worked fantastically hard for our try.
“Our set-piece gained strength and things started to go our way. It took us longer than we would have liked to break them down. But we broke them down just at the right time.”
Surveying an eighth straight defeat in the league, Bath head coach Neal Hatley said: “We’ve talked all week about key areas that were going to be massively important. For large parts of the game, we delivered on that.
“There are points in a game where it is nip and tuck – three points or four points. If you don’t put chances away, you get punished and that’s what happened.
“In the first half I thought our set-piece was outstanding. Our scrum was good and we squeezed their line-out. We put pressure on them aerially. They made some changes and brought on Harry Williams and Ben Moon, two internationals, which is a great position for them to be in.
“The spirit has always been there. I can’t fault this group for the way they turn up, ready to work. It’s a young bunch, with Max Ojomoh, Orlando Bailey, people like that, and Miles Reid, Josh Bayliss. I never look at this group and question their spirit.”
The first win is still eluding them though, as Hatley acknowledged.
“There are still those moments in attack when we had opportunities,” he said. “But if we were not creating those opportunities, we’d have been having an entirely different conversation. We have just got to be sure we finish those off.”
Hatley said try-scorer Reid would be undergoing a scan after leaving the field with a pectoral muscle problem.
Comments on RugbyPass
The Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
3 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 Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 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
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 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.
30 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 comments