Exeter Coach Rob Baxter Urges Team to Improve After Sixth Straight Premiership Defeat

Rob Baxter, who has led Exeter since 2009, stated that his team needs to do a lot of “manning up” following their sixth consecutive defeat in the Premiership. Harlequins secured five tries, with the potential for more, as the Chiefs faced difficulties during their 36-19 defeat at Sandy Park. This defeat marks Exeter’s new longest losing streak within a single Premiership season. Exeter currently avoids the bottom position in the standings solely due to possessing one more losing bonus point than Newcastle, whose four points were earned from their victory against the Chiefs last week. “We’ve got a lot of manning up and standing up to do,” Baxter informed BBC Sport. The Exeter boss, recognized as the league’s longest-serving director of rugby, further stated, “The pressure that we’re feeling and the level of the confidence in the players is coming out in our performances without doubt.” He continued, “We’re not sparking on our toes and bouncing around are we? You don’t see any of that in our movement in attack or defence particularly.” “I’m not going to stand here and just waffle ‘this is what we’re going to do’. We’ve got a lot to do,” he concluded. Exeter’s most recent victory occurred during the penultimate round of games last season. Exeter will now experience a break from their league difficulties as the Premiership Rugby Cup commences during the autumn international window. With only England’s Henry Slade and Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, alongside Wales’ Christ Tshiunza, absent from the Chiefs squad, Baxter indicated his intention to address his team’s issues. Their schedule includes an away match against Championship team Cornish Pirates on Friday, followed by hosting second-tier Hartpury the subsequent week, and then confronting Gloucester in their third pool stage fixture. “This is like a mini pre-season for us,” Baxter commented. He elaborated, “We’ve got a lot of hard work to do and there’s going to be a lot of good, hard training sessions and there’s going to be lot of players getting good game minutes until we settle into a way of playing that we’re comfortable with.” “It’s very hard. I don’t like this. I don’t like seeing the players looking the way they’re having to look because of the levels of performance and the results,” he expressed. He concluded, “What do you do? Do you hide yourself away and run away from it or do you get on with it? Right here and now we’re going to get on with it.”