Champions Cup: Rob Baxter pleased after a ‘pretty special’ Exeter Chiefs performance defeating the Stormers in ‘some style’

Jared Wright
Exeter boss Rob Baxter hailed a “pretty special” performance by the Chiefs after they defeated the Stomrers 42-17 in the Champions Cup quarter-finals.

Exeter boss Rob Baxter hailed a “pretty special” performance by the Chiefs after they defeated the Stormers 42-17 in the Champions Cup quarter-finals.

Baxter’s charges, who won the tournament in 2020, will face either La Rochelle or Saracens in the semi-finals this month after defeating the South Africans in a six-try success.

Proving the critics wrong

“For me, personally, I would put (the performance) near the top,” rugby director Baxter said after the match. 

“We achieved an incredible thing for this rugby club two years ago by winning a double (of Champions Cup and Premiership crowns).

“Ever since then, everybody outside the club has been talking about the how the castle has been crumbling. My biggest motivation has been to make sure that is not the case.

“You don’t get to a Champions Cup semi-final if everything is wrong. At the end of the day, we are not a broken rugby club.

“We have got the DNA within us that will bring us through a lot of challenges, which is why today feels pretty special. We have knocked over the United Rugby Championship champions, and we have done it in some style.”

Semi-final permuations

If La Rochelle defeats Saracens, the Chiefs will head to Bordeaux for the semi-final, but if Saracens win, the semi-final will take place in Bristol at Ashton Gate.

“If La Rochelle win, we get to go to France. The players will love it, and we have turned up in France on big days in the past and performed extremely well,” Baxter added.

“If Saracens win, we may as well say it – the old enemy – at Ashton Gate. We’ve got pretty good memories there, and we will get a lot of support there.

“It’s the guys who were incredible today that nobody notices that makes a performance like that. It’s what makes it a great performance.”

Jack Nowell was one of Exeter’s try scorers against the Stormers but left the pitch in the first half. 

Baxter described the injury as ’a bit of a tweak’.

“To be honest, I can’t see him not being available for the semi-final, he added.

“Where he will be over the next couple of weeks, we will have to wait and see.”

Stormers bow out

Meanwhile, Stormers John Dobson hailed Exeter for their fast start but lamented his side’s travel issues in getting to the game.

“We flew out in three or four groups from South Africa, and the last group got into Exeter on Wednesday,” Dobson said.

“I thought we did as well as we could with the cards but were blown off the field by Exeter in the first 20-25 minutes. It looked like the Exeter team of a couple of years ago.

“But we have loved the experience of the Champions Cup. Everything is brand-new for us.”

READ MORE: Five takeaways from Exeter Chiefs v Stormers as Rob Baxter’s charges peak at the right time