Exeter Chiefs boss comments on ‘farcical’ ending as fans feel ‘robbed’

Exeter Chiefs boss Rob Baxter dubbed the ending of his side’s Champions Cup clash with Glasgow Warriors as “farcical” after a decisive TMO decision.

It was a controversial end to the clash at Sandy Park as Glasgow Warriors looked to have scored a match-winning try with time up on the clock.

Exeter Chiefs had a scrum just five metres from their line and needing to just clear the ball into touch, Glasgow piled the pressure on young number eight Ross Vintcent. The visitors managed to turnover the ball, and Euan Ferrie scored what appeared to be the winning try.

However, upon a review from the TMO, Glasgow were judged to have turned the ball over illegally, and Exeter held on for a 19-17 victory.

“The end was a little bit farcical”

Baxter believes that the correct decision was reached and felt that the try shouldn’t have been awarded in the first place as there was more than one offence from Glasgow.

“The end was a little bit farcical, but that’s what it was. It was always going to be disallowed if it went to the TMO because there were three or four offences,” the Exeter Chiefs boss said.

“The big decision wasn’t turning the try over; the big decision was going to the TMO.

“It looked like he was going to give a decision, but then it happened so quickly, he just gave the try. I thought something was going on, and it took a long time for the TMO to look at it. Once he did, it was an easy decision to make.

“We had a young number eight there who wasn’t seen a scenario like that before. There’s no way he should be looking to kick that ball off the field, but, at the same time, our number eight should have been there to play it, but he was pulled to the ground.

“Those are some of the silly things we will have to go through with these lads because they just haven’t been through them before. I’ve had this for weeks and weeks in a row with these lads, but it is kind of what makes it fun as well.”

Not to be

While Baxter felt that the match-deciding decision was a fair one, Glasgow fans disagreed and shared their frustrations on social media platform X, formerly Twitter. “We were robbed. Absolutely robbed,” one fan wrote.

Glasgow fans may have felt aggrieved by the final decision, but head coach Franco Smith believed the game was not decided by the late call and that his side should have won the match before then.

“It would have been good to have won it that way, but it was not to be,” Smith said.

“It’s always tough. Both teams had shoulders off in the scrum. But I’m not going to criticise that decision. We didn’t lose the game there. We shouldn’t have given away that last try, and in the second half, we weren’t on it as much as we had been in the first.”

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