Whitehead backs Chiefs to come good

Exeter Chiefs hooker Chris Whitehead knows the modern-day game has no hiding place, but he insists he and his team-mates will learn lessons from their recent run of defeats.

In what has been a testing block of fixtures for Rob Baxter's side, Sunday's narrow loss at London Wasps in the Aviva Premiership means the Chiefs have now lost seven or their past eight games in all competitions.

That sequence of results has not only see the Chiefs slip to eighth place in the current Premiership standings, but has also dented their hopes of qualification in both the Heineken and LV= Cups.

That said, Whitehead was quick to stress that although the Chiefs have not been firing on all cylinders, the group remain strong and know that a victory in this weekend's European encounter with Glasgow Warriors at Sandy Park could provide the spark to ignite their season once more.

“Rob is a very level-headed guy, and you certainly don’t start beating yourself up when you lose,” said Whitehead. “We always say we don’t get over-excited when we come away with great wins, although we enjoy those wins, and by the same token, we don’t really get that down on ourselves when we come away with losses.

“We have to come out of these defeats by learning something, though. There is no point just bouncing into the next Premiership or Heineken Cup fixture and coming away with another loss and not learning something, and that is something we are very good at as a team.

“We have now got a couple of Heineken Cup games coming up, which we should be excited about, and then a couple of LV= Cup matches, and then back into a massive block of Premiership games to finish the season.

“It is an exciting time for us. Eighth place in the table is not the end of the world at this stage of the season, and we certainly back ourselves to work very hard to get back up the table. Ultimately the top six is probably what we want, but there is no reason why we shouldn’t be looking higher than that, with the team and the talent we have got throughout the whole squad.”

Last weekend the Chiefs appeared on course to record their seventh league win of the season at Wasps, but having led 13-3 at the break they allowed their hosts to claw their way back into the contest and were eventually sunk by a late drop-goal from former England international fly-half Andy Goode.

“We went in at half-time ten points ahead and felt very much like we were in control. Our penalty count let us down in the second half, we gave away silly penalties, and that just released all the pressure on them,” said 27-year-old Whitehead.

“Any time we had any ball and kept hold of the ball in the second half, we seemed to give away a penalty. They have got a great drive and we did well to stop that, because other teams have struggled against it. But then we would give away another penalty, they would score another three points, and all of a sudden the pressure was all on us, and that is probably the learn for us.”

Pictures: Exeter Rugby Club/Pinnacle Photo Agency