Baxter reacts to Premiership Final defeat

Rob Baxter refused to be too downbeat despite seeing his Exeter Chiefs side surrender their grip on the Aviva Premiership to rivals Saracens at Twickenham.

Hopes of replicating their success of 12 months ago were ended as the Londoners reclaimed English Rugby’s prized crown by securing a 27-10 victory, thanks in the main to tries from Billy Vunipola, Chris Wyles (2) and Nathan Earle.

The Chiefs fired the odd shot through a Joe Simmonds penalty and a converted Gareth Steenson try, but that was all they could muster on an afternoon when they were distinctly second best for much of this bruising contest.

Asked post match if it was performance where his side may have left a little bit in the tank, Baxter replied: “A little bit. I don’t want to sit here and say it was our best performance of the season because I don’t think it was, but I’m a huge believer that finals are about the winners.
“Saracens were very good, I thought they pinned their game together better than we did. Their management of the game, the moments they came up with and how they worked their pressure and exploited us was very good. We didn’t handle that well enough all game.

“I can be churlish and talk about the bits and pieces we didn’t do well or what I was disappointed with, but ultimately, a fair bit of credit for that has to come down to Saracens. Some of the things we got wrong, you can put that down to the pressure on the scoreboard from what Saracens were doing."

For the full story, go to https://www.exeterchiefs.co.uk/news/baxter-reacts-to-final-loss