Baxter urges his Chiefs to ‘roll up their sleeves’

Exeter boss wants a repeat performance from last week’s effort against Wasps

ROB BAXTER has called on his Exeter Chiefs players to roll their sleeves up and fight to the bitter end as the club strive for a seventh successive Premiership final.

Baxter admits that the 2021/22 campaign feels like one which has often conspired against his side and they find themselves languishing down in sixth place in the standings.

It is a far cry from recent seasons, where Exeter have led from the front, thus guaranteeing themselves a home semi-final in the end of season play-offs. That looks a long way off right now, especially after last week’s gut-wrenching loss at home to Wasps, deep into the red zone, but Baxter is not giving up the fight. And he has told his players not to either ahead of today’s visit of third-place Gloucester.

“I’ve said to the guys, it might have felt heart-breaking after the game, especially the way we lost right at the end, but you should only be heartbroken if you have worked hard and laid it all out on the field,” Baxter said. “We did that - and that’s how you get better.

“Now, we have got to at least perform to that level again. We don’t want to back off from that now and we have got to get ourselves enthusiastic for the fight.

“I keep saying to the lads, this would be one hell of a season to get to a final or win a trophy because it does feel that things are stacking up a little bit and we are under a bit of pressure.

“That top four is not too far away, the top two a little further, and we have been in and around the top two for a few years now, so let’s roll up our sleeves and get ready for the fight and be that team that is determined to go on a run and determined to fight our way into that top four. Let’s show that fight and bring the best out in ourselves.

“There is a lot in this season still for us. We’ve got seven guys away on international duty, others are injured, so that’s a third of our squad missing. Equally, we have big players coming back from injury and lots of things in the future to feel good about. It’s these next three or four weeks, however, that will give us the opportunity for that to count later down the line.”

A five-point victory at Sandy Park could reduce the gap on Gloucester to six points, but Baxter has nothing but praise for the way the Cherry & Whites have gone about their business this season.

“Gloucester are third and they deserve to be where they are,” he said.

“Looking at them, they look comfortable and aligned with one another, George [Skivington] has got them bang on in a lot of things they do, and the players are playing with a smile on their faces.

“What we have got to do is play in a way that makes them uncomfortable and question what they want to do. Looking at our lads this week, I’m confident we have that in us.”

Exeter Chiefs: Josh Hodge, Olly Woodburn, Ian Whitten, Tom Hendrickson, Tom O’Flaherty, Joe Simmonds, Sam Maunder, Alec Hepburn, Jack Innard, Patrick Schickerling, Jannes Kirsten, Dafydd Jenkins, Don Armand, Richard Capstick, Santiago Grondona. Replacements: Jack Yeandle, Billy Keast, Marcus Street, Dave Ewers, Ollie Leatherbarrow, Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, Harvey Skinner, Facundo Cordero.