Exeter roll over La Rochelle after Baxter spurs them on to collect five-point haul
Exeter will be watching closely how Racing 92 and Toulouse fare today, having seen off La Rochelle to put themselves in contention for a potential home Champions Cup semi-final, should they reach that stage.
Having already secured a spot in the quarter-finals for the first time since 2016, this win meant Exeter finished the pool stages unbeaten, with tries from Luke Cowan-Dickie, who was outstanding, plus Dave Ewers, Sam Simmonds, twice, and Stu Townsend.
“At half-time we just simplified things, talked about getting out there, being emotional, being tough, and the game just changed,” said Exeter director of rugby Rob Baxter.
“That is a great credit to the players. Five points again in a Champions Cup round is not to be sniffed at and it has given us a great opportunity to do well by having a home quarter-final.”
Cowan-Dickie, who boosted his England credentials ahead of Eddie Jones naming his squad tomorrow, finished off another destructive Exeter maul to open the scoring.
Kini Murimurivalu replied for La Rochelle, doing well to get low and score in the corner, but Exeter’s response was sharp, a sparkling break from Stuart Hogg leading to the powerful Ewers eventually forcing his way over.
La Rochelle, unbowed, hit back with a cross-field chip from Ihaia West finding France centre Geoffrey Doumayrou with options on his inside. Hogg knocked on in his effort to intercept and was subsequently yellow-carded.
Surprisingly, given the field position and Exeter defenders within range, a penalty try was also awarded.
The sides were tied at 14-14 going into the break after Exeter fly-half Joe Simmonds had a try chalked off for obstruction.
More of what Exeter do best, relentless, short-range carries, paved the way for try three, with a tapped penalty from five metres out resulting in Sam Simmonds bustling his way over.
That left Exeter with more than half an hour to find the all-important bonus point. They hardly needed that long.
Hogg went close, but the pack put the game beyond doubt with a series of scrums, shoving La Rochelle back over their own line before Sam Simmonds simply dotted down to grab his second.
The best score came last. Townsend, after a superb Ollie Devoto break, sprinted clear to put the cherry on top of a fine European campaign, so far.