Baxter perplexed at non-penalty decision
Exeter Chiefs head coach Rob Baxter said he was "perplexed" as to why his team were not awarded a penalty try in the final minute of their Aviva Premiership encounter at home to Gloucester.
With Gloucester prop Sila Puafisi already in the sin-bin for a late hit on Chiefs playmaker Gareth Steenson, the visitors were then reduced to 13 men when fellow Tongan Sione Kalamafoni was shown yellow by referee Matt Carley for cynically killing Exeter's driving maul just inches from the line.
Although the Chiefs made the numerical advantage pay in the subsequent play as Don Armand crossed for his first-ever top flight try, Steenson was unable to add the all-important extras with the final kick of the game as his side went down 14-13 at a packed Sandy Park.
It marked a disappointing day for the Chiefs, whose other points came courtesy of a try from winger Matt Jess and a penalty from fly-half Henry Slade.
In reply, three penalties from Rob Cook and a Charlie Sharples try proved sufficient enough for the Cherry & Whites to claim victory and leapfrog their Devon rivals in the league standings.
Disappointed with his side's overall showing, Baxter could not hide his frustration at Carley's decision not to award a penalty try late on.
He said: "I am not going to hide my disappointment from you, I don't think we played very well today. I have just said to the guys, if you want to win games of Premiership rugby, you have to go out there and play very well and you have to make it about yourselves and take all your opportunities with two hands.
"I thought our start was nervy, simply because of the amount of time we came up with some poor passes, we dropped a ball or there was just a lack of crispness in our play. However, as the game wore on, you can't really say it was about nerves because in the final period we kind of dominated possession and territory without ramming home what we needed to.
"We were probably our own worse enemies at times today, simply because of the amount of ball we put on the floor. Gloucester will look at it the same, they made plenty of errors as well, but we probably made a few too many to really ram home the win."
With winless Worcester next on the agenda on April 12 at Sixways, Baxter is hoping his side's enforced break will help get them back on track.
He continued: "We have got a break now for a week and what we have to do is reignite some of the intensity we were playing with just a few weeks ago, because this is another one of those disappointing one-score games.
"As I said to the guys just a minute ago, it was great endeavour for what they did at the end. However, I'm a little perplexed how you can have a driving maul flying over the line, it's collapsed, they have a yellow card, but it's not a penalty try especially after a couple of penalties that led up to it. But we will have to see what the refereeing department say about that."
With the Chiefs dropping down to ninth in the league table, hopes of reaching the all-important top six are beginning to fade with just four games of the season remaining.
"It's just getting tougher," admitted Baxter. "But until you can't make it on points, you have to keep fighting for it. For me, what I am more concerned about is getting back to the level of intensity and the quality that we played at earlier in the season, not necessarily gathering points as one thing leads to the other.
"Maybe it was more points that the guys were looking at today, so whether that made us more edgy or nervous, I'm not sure at this stage. Hopefully this break will be good for the guys because they've had a pretty intense four or five weeks and now the aim is come back fresh and looking good for when we go up to Worcester in a few weeks' time."
Match report here: http://www.theexeterdaily.co.uk/news/sport/chiefs-lose-match-just-one-point
