We wanted it too easy, Baxter raps his Chiefs
ROB BAXTER, relieved after his second-placed Chiefs rallied to claim an edgy bonus-point win, admitted: “I just can’t be happy with that level of performance.
The Exeter head coach added: “We’ve shown some good qualities mentally to fight back and come through with a five-point win but if we think that’s the level of intensity it’s OK to play at in our coming games then we’re going to have to shake ourselves up.
“I don’t like to say it – because it’s so rare to say it about our boys – but I don’t know how hard we were really prepared to work for the scores to start with.
“We looked like a team that wanted an easy score to come.”
Sale capitalised on the strong wind behind them in the first-half as Exeter struggled to clear their lines. Fly-half AJ MacGinty kicked the visitors into a 6-0 lead in the opening 15 minutes – his first from just inside the Chiefs’ half and the second from close range.
Exeter worked their way into the Sale 22 but it backfired when young scrum-half Stuart Townsend’s telegraphed pass was intercepted by Denny Solomona who was never going to be caught on his 80-metre run for his tenth try in 11 games since arriving from Castleford.
“He’s a world-class finisher – 40 tries last season in Super League prove that,” said Sharks boss Steve Diamond.
It took Exeter only two minutes to respond with a superb try. Hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie looked isolated as he made the break but held the ball long enough for full-back Phil Dollman to arrive. He found Thomas Waldrom who sent flanker Kai Horstmann diving over.
A second Exeter scrum infringement presented MacGinty with another simple penalty – and a third enabled him to boot Sale into a 19-5 lead after 33 minutes.
But the Chiefs rallied to grab an important second try. A Sharks scrum offence proved costly as Henry Slade kicked for touch rather than goal.
Sale hauled down the first lineout drive but could not stop the second as Exeter drove Cowan-Dickie over with Slade cutting the deficit to seven points with his conversion.
Exeter looked determined to exploit the conditions in the second half and, although they lost an attacking lineout, they won the resulting scrum after downing former Wales scrum-half Mike Phillips behind his own try-line.
Playing with a penalty advantage, they whipped the ball out left where Slade sent Olly Woodburn over.
Slade’s 50th-minute penalty put Exeter ahead for the first time but MacGinty edged Sale back in front with his fifth penalty.
Exeter replaced their entire front row and Sale buckled. Even so, the Chiefs looked to have squandered their chance with a loose pass but skipper Don Armand snatched the ball to run through a defensive gap for the bonuspoint try, converted by Slade who added a penalty.
MacGinty’s last-kick penalty – his seventh success from seven attempts – earned the spirited Sharks their losing bonus point.