Western Morning News (Saturday)
Baxter tells his players to remain focused
EXETER Chiefs Director of Rugby, Rob Baxter, has told his players not to get ‘overwhelmed’ by off-field matters ahead of tomorrow’s Gallagher Premiership encounter with Worcester Warriors at Sixways (3pm).
With major doubts still lingering over the very existence of the Warriors moving forward, Baxter and his coaches have spent this week instilling into their players to remain focused and look to build on last weekend’s opening day win over defending champions Leicester Tigers.
“We’ve spoken a lot this week about the ifs and buts of what is happening at Worcester,” explained Baxter. “There has been a lot said about what is happening and what’s not happening. But, if things go to plan and they get a new owner, new supporters come on board, this weekend could easily become a fresh start for them.
“What we have to do is make sure we don’t get overwhelmed by all of that. We have stay focused, concentrate on ourselves and make sure we get in the right mind-set for the game at the weekend. At the moment, we’re in a good place and that’s how I want us to feel. I want us to know the game is on and just ‘get on with it.’
“Last season we lost up there in what was a funny old game in a lot of ways. On the day, we know we let ourselves down, so that should act as a good incentive for us to go up there this time and play well.”
The Chiefs showed last weekend that they are primed for battle, defeating the Tigers 24-20, and producing a performance that augurs well for the coming weeks and months.
Naturally, Baxter was delighted to see his team start in such fashion, adding: “I was really pleased, not just with the result, but how we approached things. Emotionally we were great, physically we looked fit and strong from our preseason, and tactically we did pretty much everything right, other than a couple of kick decisions which put us under pressure.
“That allowed Leicester back into the game and they scored their two tries, but it was great how we rebounded from those scores. If you look at that last quarter, we controlled possession and territory right up until we scored at the end.
“I know people will be frustrated seeing us held up or knocking on close to the line, but the intent we showed to get on with it and score, that speaks volumes. I’d rather we be in those positions pushing hard, then having to defend and soak up opposition pressure.”
It was certainly the perfect start to the new campaign and Baxter wants to see more of the same this week and moving forward.
“You could see we still had a lot in the tank,” he continued. “We were well prepared after a big pre-season and it was a great start to things at Sandy Park this season. That’s what we’ve talked about a lot, we want to make coming here tough for opponents and that was certainly a good starting point.
“What I liked the most was that the players helped create the atmosphere by what they were doing on the pitch. Their actions, which were relentless, enabled the crowd to bubble and ticked a lot of boxes.”
Not surprisingly, Baxter sticks with a virtually unchanged lineup for Sunday’s match. The sole change in personnel sees Rory O’Loughlin come into the centre for his first-ever Premiership start, he takes over from try-scorer Solomone Kata, who drops to the bench.
Exeter Chiefs:15 Joe Simmonds14 Jack Nowell13 Rory O’Loughlin12 Ian Whitten11 Olly Woodburn10 Harvey Skinner9 Stu Townsend1 Alec Hepburn2 Jack Yeandle (capt)3 Marcus Street4 Jack Dunne5 Jonny Gray6 Jannes Kirsten7 Christ Tshiunza8 Richard Capstick Replacements:16 Jack Innard17 James Kenny18 Patrick Schickerling19 Ruben Van Heerden20 Dave Ewers21 Jack Maunder22 Solomone Kata 23 Facundo Cordero