Baxter proud despite defeat

Exeter Chiefs head coach Rob Baxter admitted he was proud of his side’s performance despite slipping to a 34-27 defeat away to Bordeaux-Begles.

In an absorbing Championship Cup contest – which saw eight tries scored – the Chiefs were ultimately undone late in the game by a converted try from replacement Marco T auleigne. Until that point, the Chiefs – who made 13 changes to their line-up that had defeated Gloucester seven days earlier – more than held their own against their French rivals, who collected earlier tries through Adam Ashley-Cooper, Blair Connor, Louis-Benoit Madaule and Benat Auzqui.

In reply, Baxter’s side countered with tries from Dave Lewis, Byron McGuigan and Max Bodilly, while fly-half Will Hooley weighed in with the remainder of their points. Post-match, Baxter refused to be too downbeat about the outcome, insisting there were plenty of positives to take from the game.

“I could sit here and rip the game to pieces, and there were mistakes we made that have ultimately cost us the match, but we made a lot of changes to come away from home to France to face a good team, and we have come up a little bit short, but a lot of what we did was good and the character we showed was fantastic,” said Baxter.

“We are looking to develop a squad that can go through multiple competitions and win, and we were one try away from going away feeling really pleased with ourselves. “I can’t really fault the commitment of the players. That was the biggest thing we were asking for from them before the game – to make sure we showed our qualities as Exeter Chiefs.

“There was a lack of detail on occasions, our line-out went awry at times, a couple bits of decision-making hurt us, but it was little bits and pieces that let us down.

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Match report here: http://www.theexeterdaily.co.uk/news/business-daily-sport/bordeaux-begles-edge-out-exeter-chiefs