Baxter calm after defeat

Never one to get carried away in victory or defeat, Exeter Chiefs head coach Rob Baxter remained level-headed after seeing his side slip to a second successive Aviva Premiership defeat.

Sale Sharks maintained their unbeaten home record this season by inflicting a 23-17 loss on their rivals from Devon at the AJ Bell Stadium.

Johnny Leota, Nev Edwards and Mike Haley all crossed for first half tries as the Sharks stormed into a 17-0 lead at the break. The Chiefs, however, were much improved after the interval and countered with converted scores of their own through Jack Yeandle and Dave Lewis.

Sadly, it was not enough as England international Danny Cipriani landed two successful penalties after the break to keep his side in front.

Even then, a late Gareth Steenson penalty brought the Chiefs back to within a score, but they could not capitalise on late pressure and it was the Sharks who ultimately prevailed. Post-match, Baxter admitted an error-strewn first half had left his side with a mountain to climb, but he was encouraged by Exeter’s fighting spirit which at least enabled them to head home with a losing bonus point. “The truth is that we are disappointed to lose but at the same time you have to give a lot of credit to Sale,” said Baxter.

“They stood strong in front of a lot of concerted attacks today and they’ve worked extremely hard not to break, not to drop out of systems and not to give up defensive penalties, so full credit to them for that because we worked extremely hard today. “I have just said to the lads that I can’t fault them for the energy they have put in out on the pitch because we have carried the ball for miles in loads of contacts. But ultimately we have come up a little bit short by being too error-stricken in the early part of the game when we had concerted pressure and we either lost the ball or gave up a penalty.

“I think ultimately not scoring anything in that first half has ultimately cost us. Not only did we not score anything, but when Sale had their moments and for whatever reason you have to say they were extremely clinical.” Although the Chiefs dominated territory and possession for long periods, they struggled to find their usual fluency in attack and some hurried decisions – under pressure from some stout Sale defence – meant chances came and went far too often for Baxter’s liking.

“Our possession stats are going to be incredible,” admitted the Chiefs head coach. “It’s weird in some ways because it didn’t really feel we were under massive amounts of pressure from their attacks, yet the pressure on the scoreboard was huge for us.

“We were looking around from moments of attack and all of a sudden we’re 17 points down. I think that’s great credit to Sale being ready and clinical to change the tempo from defence into attack, but it’s also us being a little bit off the boil and not dealing with a couple of moments which we should have done, especially in those early attacks.”

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Picture: Phil Mingo http://www.ppauk.com