Baxter: The work starts here
Exeter Chiefs head coach Rob Baxter is refusing to get carried away with the club's first ever Premiership 22-10 win over Gloucester.
Exeter got the first win of the season on the board as the team played very well to beat a side fancied to break the top four this year. However, Baxter insists that everyone has to stay grounded to make sure the reality of the situation stays the same.
It's very important to the future of Exeter as a rugby club that they manage to stay in the Premiership by the end of the season. Therefore Baxter is not likely to allow anyone to get carried away until the points needed to make the club safe have been achieved.
Baxter believes there are many areas that his Exeter team can work on and improve in training. They have to maintain the early momentum they have created in any way possible.
Things to work on
The Exeter defence looked very nervous at points during the game with Gloucester. This led to many gaps developing just in front of the main defensive players. Exeter was very lucky that other players managed to cover and stop a number of Gloucester's try-scoring chances.
Baxter will be the first to admit that he felt his side gave the ball away far too easily during the game. This can cost a side the match and it was lucky that Gloucester did not make more of unexpected possession. The longer Exeter can keep possession of the ball, the longer the side can maintain pressure against better teams.
Exeter will need to work on the way they develop set-plays. There were one or two instances of line-outs in this game where one of the Exeter players would completely waste a very good situation. This allowed Gloucester to relax and head straight up the other end of the field.
Baxter said: "We are the Premiership new boys and the home game first up suited us more than them. I am in fact a little disappointed as I felt that had we moved the ball more in the first 20 minutes we could have opened up a bit more daylight. We should have backed ourselves more as it's a big wide pitch and we need to maximise the use of it."
The momentum
The momentum is important for a side like Exeter because they will inevitably find the challenge of better sides in the Premiership too difficult to cope with. If the side can use the momentum to snuff out a number of early wins then it will create confidence and belief.
This will ensure the club does not get embarrassed in certain matches this year. It will also mean that the club has a much better chance of staying in the division, which is their sole aim this season.
Baxter added: "I am very aware that Gloucester had many try-scoring opportunities, missed a number of goal kicks and they were slightly off form. We've not won or lost anything today - the next three to four weeks are important as we have to see that we are improving and can meet the continuing demands of the season."
Betting advice
Exeter did not look at all out of place during the game with Gloucester. However, wait a little longer before you read too much into this win. It's natural that any newly promoted player will try a little bit harder to do well at the start of the season in a new league. If Exeter wins three games out of their next four or five, then you can bet confidently that they will stay up.
Tags: