Relentless Chiefs thrive on giving rivals the runaround

EXETER’S unrivalled ability to keep the ball allied to new laws that favour attacking teams are keeping Rob Baxter’s side ahead of the pack, according to Bath No.9 Chris Cook.

Bath were given a possession-based master class from Chiefs last weekend, finding themselves behind 35-3 after 54 minutes before recovering to lose 42-29.

Remarkable statistics obtained by The Rugby

Paper reveal that, on average, Exeter retain the ball for three minutes longer per match than any other Premiership team. Their figure of 23.31 minutes dwarfs those of top four rivals Gloucester (19.52), Saracens (18.27) and Bath, whose ball retention figure of 17.17 minutes per match is the lowest in the division.

“Exeter have a very drilled way of playing and they’re awesome at it,” Cook said. “You have to tip your hat to them; they played very well last week and were deserved winners.

“They’ve got very big forwards who are hard to stop and they come at you relentlessly from all angles. With ball in play time shooting up this season because of new laws that create a faster ruck, clearly that has helped give attacking teams a better chance.”

Proving Cook’s point are statistics that show tryscoring has now reached its highest point since the division reduced from 14 teams to 12 in 1999-2000.

Averaging 5.88 tries per game this season, the Premiership is Europe’s most free-scoring league, with France’s Top 14 producing a miserly 3.9 tries per match.

Seven of the 12 Premiership teams average three or more tries per game and Cook, whose side have notched 26 in 10 matches, added: “It’s a mix of law changes, people developing speed and body-wise, and an attacking mentality.

“The game has certainly got quicker in my seven years as a professional and there are now lots of very big, fast men who can go round or through you. It’s not much fun if you haven’t got the ball but the games are more entertaining.”

Gloucester’s turnaround in fortunes has been founded on a 14.2 per cent rise in ball possession, while Sale are the only team to have shown a decrease. Overall ball in play time has risen by 4.3 per cent – around 90 seconds more per game than last season.