Why a day at the beach was just the tonic for 'heartbroken' Exeter
Rob Baxter has explained why he changed things up at Exeter training this week by taking his squad off to the beach in Exmouth on Monday to cleanse the mind following a run of three successive defeats. The Chiefs have lost successive matches to Montpellier, London Irish and Wasps, results that have left them with a tricky European tie versus Munster and a drop to eighth place in the Gallagher Premiership table.
It makes for quite a change in fortunes, Just 16 months ago the club moulded by Baxter were crowned double European and Premiership champions in a welter of excitement and the Exeter defence of those titles saw them reach the Champions Cup quarter-final and the Premiership final, their sixth successive appearance in the end-of-year Twickenham showpiece.
However, they now find themselves in an interesting situation. Because of their success under Baxter, they have had multiple Six Nations call-ups and it said much about how Exeter have really become a force on the international scene when they had seven players playing in last week’s Calcutta Cup clash between England and Scotland.
What that has meant is Exeter must now negotiate the weeks through to late March with a relatively inexperienced side and the sickening manner of their last-minute defeat at home to Wasps was an example of the emotions that are going to be involved.
The key with it, according to Baxter, is for his youngsters not to get too hung up over losing provided they have lost in a certain way. “That is the biggest challenge for young players, the biggest thing for them to step over,” he explained.
“You can create that real great buzz environment and emotion when you are a young player and you can have that big game, but it’s this backing up process is part of that becoming a good player. Good players can find a way during the course of the week to physically and mentally get ready so we have talked a fair bit to these young guys.
“That was why we had a bit of a different Monday (a ten minutes dip in the sea after breathing techniques, a bit of stretching, a bit of yoga and relaxation stuff), just let them have a bit of a recharge, a refresh, clear their minds from one week because they are going to have to lay it all out on the line this week against Gloucester.
“So we have talked about the importance of that and there is nothing wrong with getting your heart broken. Getting your heart broken is one of the most important things you can do in sport because you are only really hurt if you have laid absolutely everything out on the field and you have lost. If you haven’t laid it all out there and you lose you have got nobody to blame but yourself. That is the truth.
“If you don’t give everything you should never be heartbroken by it. We have talked about being heartbroken as a sportsman is one of the strongest things you can do and we got to be prepared to do it all again and the more we can do that then the better a team we will become.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Job done guys. Great win in a game where things can quickly go wrong.
1 Go to commentsAlex Sanderson fantastic coach and person .So pleased he has signed another contract great days ahead for Sale under his leadership.
1 Go to commentsAndy Goode cant kick to 12
162 Go to commentsDoxed himself. Great work Johnny. You are well suited to the Saders
1 Go to comments_Best game players _
1 Go to commentsWho's Jarrad Hohepa?
1 Go to commentsSo let me get this straight. Say you have the dominant scrum. You are 99% sure you can go for a scrum pushover try on the line to win the game. The opposition knows it too. They give away a silly tap kick instead. You are now not allowed to scrum. This is ridiculous! *%@ing the game up as usual! The fact that the attacking teams are not allowed to scrum from a held up over the line is just as ridiculous. Really world rugby? Careful people might start a rebel league called True Rugby or Real Rugby.
76 Go to comments12 subs during a game? How has that been allowed to happen NB? I hate when the game goes in this monopolistic direction closing up shop, it just becomes non sport. Btw have you seen anything of how Liam Coltman was tracking for Lyon? He has just signed to return to Otago though we have a couple of young hookers developing here. He was a popular gentle natured character down here and I’m glad to see him back but maybe he will be a mentor primarily?
11 Go to commentsGreat breakdown and the global politics always confuses me a little. The southern hemisphere seems to be left out a bit but I wouldn’t even know where to start with fixing it. Club challenge could be a step in the right direction
11 Go to commentsSince he coached Free state, from that time onwards, I maintained he was the coach for the Boks. A nice, no nonsense guy with an excellent brain, who gets results.
11 Go to commentswell - they only played against 14 men and had the TMO team on their side - and still should have lost… so actually that makes sense.
33 Go to commentsSouthern hemisphere Rugby is exactly that, boring. Northern Hemisphere Rugby is soooo much more entertaining and better with better players.
2 Go to commentsIf he was to be cited for a dangerous behavior, then it’s natural that he should be. Then NTamack too, yes? And I’ll add a good whataboutism - Yeandle eye-gouging on Richie Arnold: not cited. Eye-gouging. Not high tackle. Eye-gouging. It was on French TV, with French TV directors.
5 Go to commentsReally poorly written rambling piece ..
11 Go to commentsIt was so boring
2 Go to commentspersonally I’d go with : 1. France 2. NZ 3. England 4. Ireland 5. Scotland
33 Go to commentsAndy everything becomes easier with experience therefor counting etc straight after a match becomes easier when you have 100+ caps vs 17 which is the experience you speak from.
162 Go to commentsGetting rid of the Dupont Law is a good thing and ought to have been done months ago! Officially getting rid of the croc roll is a good thing. The law about no scrums from a short arm is well intended in terms of speeding the game up but it’s an overreaction to a clever yet calculated gamble that could have blow up in South Africa’s face if they conceded a penalty from the scrum that was set after Willemse took claimed the mark in the World Cup QF.
76 Go to commentsRassie The GOAT
11 Go to commentsOf their 5 big matches in RWC Scotland and NZ were the easiest. They took a 12-3 lead against NZ and after the red decided it was best to hold the lead and take chances that came. None came and it was tight but they dug a lot deeper in the other two knock out matches. They had trounced NZ in Twickenham in a fixture that NZ must now regret. Psychology was clearly with SA in the final as a result.
33 Go to comments