Exeter’s Rob Baxter Sees “Step in the Right Direction” Despite Seventh Consecutive Loss

Despite being two points from the bottom of the Premiership following seven consecutive defeats, Exeter’s head coach Rob Baxter described his team’s 19-15 loss against Premiership leaders Bath as “a step in the right direction.” This defeat marked a club-record seventh consecutive league loss for Exeter. However, the team held a lead at half-time and secured a losing bonus point by scoring a late try. Exeter, also known as the Chiefs, fell to the bottom of the league standings after Newcastle’s victory over Saracens on Friday. Speaking to BBC Radio Devon, Baxter stated, “We’re definitely scrapping and that’s going to be important because ultimately that’s what’ll get us through the season,” adding, “We do have to aim to grow across the season, the season isn’t going to happen from one performance or one game, we’ve got to grow and grow through the year.” He further commented, “Today felt like a step in the right direction, if you’re in games as close as we were today for as long as we were – in the lead at half-time – we’ll come away with wins, and they’re there for us in the future.” Following a series of subpar performances in the initial Premiership fixtures, Exeter secured victories against Championship teams Cornish Pirates and Hartpury in their first two Premiership Rugby Cup games last month. The team concluded the first phase of cup competitions with a morale-boosting 31-7 win over Gloucester last week. After the defeat at the Rec, Baxter remarked, “We’ve gone for it, which is what we said to the lads we wanted to do, we wanted to be ambitious and we wanted to go for it,” and continued, “We’ve not quite converted a couple of chances, and maybe you could say Bath had been a little bit more accurate than us in that conversion rate, but on the whole we’ve given it a good go, we’ve come up a little bit short.” He also noted, “But a bonus point away from home in the Premiership, especially against one of the top teams is pretty good and par for the course.” However, he expressed some frustration, stating, “But it’s a little frustrating because what we just need is a win to kick start our season and feel good about ourselves.”