Chiefs EXtra special
PREMIERSHIP FINAL BAXTER BOYS SCALP WASPS
ROB BAXTER laid on cider and pasties on the team bus last night after his Chiefs scalped Wasps at Twickenham.
But the Exeter boss warned the celebrations must stop when they get back to business in the West Country – because Europe is next on his list.
Seven years after winning promotion to the Premiership, the Baxter boys are top of the pile after winning a nail-biting final in extra time.
There are just three men left standing from the Exeter team that beat Bristol in the Championship play-offs back in 2010 – Gareth Steenson, prop Ben Moon and full-back Phil Dollman.
And it was fitting that Steenson popped over the winning penalty with just over two minutes of extra time left.
Exeter got taken to school by Saracens at HQ last season but totally outplayed Wasps here and how the game was not settled in 80 minutes is one for a stewards’ inquiry.
But Baxter urged his side not to take their foot off the gas – he has his eyes on European domination now they have knocked off an English title.
Exeter were thrashed by Clermont at home in October in the Champions Cup – had a s t e r n word with themselves and have hardly lost a game since – and Baxter wants more.
He said: “As great as this is, it can’t be the defining thing about Exeter.
Tears
“We will enjoy today to the max but the truth is we need to put a group of players together in this close season who are going to turn around and say, ‘I am going to do something about the fact that we are Premiership champions, I am going to do something about that to make sure it stays that way’.
“We have let ourselves down in Europe for the last couple of seasons with our performances and it should be a marker that we are not going to let it happen again.”
Baxter dissolved into tears, in the arms of his wife Jo, at the final whistle. But the waterworks should have been turned on at least 20 minutes earlier. Exeter won this game once, handed it back to Wasps, nearly lost and finally won it with Steenson’s nerveless kick. Wasps have a boy band backline, but they hit some sour notes with Danny Cipriani and Elliot Daly both kicking out on the full. And they missed the tunes of injured Wallaby Kurtley Beale. Barring Jack Nowell, Exeter are not full of rock stars – but they fully justify the ‘ No I in Team’ motto. Their collection of cast-offs from other clubs, so- called second-string overseas players and l ocal l ads made good came up trumps. Baxter added: “To create a good team you need a mixture of different characters. They are all here for different reasons, but they choose to work hard and look after each other because they want rewards. Today they got those rewards.”
Wasps scored 89 tries in the regular season as they ripped the Premiership apart – but other than 15 minutes either side of half-time, they hardly fired a shot yesterday.
Hurts
Boss Dai Young said: “I have told all the players not to be too disappointed but it has fallen on deaf ears.
“This defeat shows we’re still a work in progress. It hurts and there’s not much to say to make it feel better. But fair play to Exeter – congratulations to a great club and a great team.”
Exeter were 14-3 up and coasting thanks to tries from Nowell and Dollman but a soft score by Jimmy Gopperth and a lucky one from Daly put Wasps in front.
The teams slugged it out to 20-20 at full-time before Steenson’s winner after Matt Mullan got pinged at a scrum. And the scrumpy was on Baxter.