Baxter fear as Chiefs fail to fire

AS the supporters filed out of their seats at full-time to beat the queues for the bar, Paul Gustard remained in the coaching box with his Quins beanie hat pulled over his face.

He had watched his forwards bully the Exeter pack for 70 minutes, but had to settle for a losing bonus point after Marcus Smith’s late penalty drifted wide of the posts.

On the other side of the grandstand, Rob Baxter made a beeline for the changing rooms. Exeter had claimed a victory to move clear at the top of the table, yet the Chiefs director of rugby was intent on giving both barrels to his players.

Are the Chiefs running out of momentum? That was the question being asked around Sandy Park. They have a l r e a dy booked their place in the playoffs but, on yesterday’s evidence, the challenge i s to maintain their edge between now and their home semi-final at the end of May.

‘I’ve just given it to the forwards in the changing room,’ said Baxter, as he took his seat at the top table. ‘At this stage of the season we’ve won the big prize and it’s created this emotion vacuum.

‘We’ve shown good qualities to see the game off, but we’re an Exeter Chiefs pack of forwards playing at home and we’ve been pushed around. We can’t just manage our way through a few games because we know we’ve got a home semi-final.

‘What I’m worried about is that we expect it to come in the week of the semi-final and the players are looking around and saying, “Where is it?” I’ve challenged them to snap out of it. That’s not good enough.’

Exeter started like a train, racing to a 12-0 lead inside 11 minutes.

They scored their first try after 85 seconds, when Dave Ewers beat Francis Saili in midfield and set up Ollie Devoto score from their first possession.

Harlequins were still on the team bus.

Moments later, the Chiefs stitched together power and precision to build an attack through 27 phases. They edged towards the tryline and Nic White stretched over for a try loaded with purpose.

After that, Exeter lost their sense of purpose.

Joe Marler and Kyle Sinckler dominated the scrum and, after a series of penalties, Ben Moon was eventually sin-binned in the second half.

All Harlequins had to show for their first-half efforts was a Smith penalty as they missed the chance to move into the top four.

‘We were the dominant team but we just need that bit of lady luck,’ said Gustard.

A close-range Harry Williams try moved Exeter 14 points clear in the second half.

Quins hit back twice with Moon in the sinbin, scoring through Sam Hidalgo- Clyne and Charlie Walker, but Smith was off target with the conversion. Then came Smith’s chance to snatch the victory from 40 metres in the 75th minute, but Exeter were let off the hook.