‘Heads in the sand’ – Rob Baxter bemoans late ‘implosion’ against Bristol Bears

Exeter Chiefs director of rugby Rob Baxter has bemoaned his side’s late “implosion” in their dramatic 40-35 defeat to Bristol Bears at Sandy Park. 

The Chiefs, yet again, dominated much of the game against their West Country rivals, but a superb run of four tries in eight minutes steered Pat Lam’s side to a bonus-point win.

“Heads in the sand”

The defeat was very reminiscent of Exeter’s other losses to Leicester and Northampton this year, where Exeter failed to take their chances and simply lacked the composure they’ve become so famous for. The game looked all-but won at 65 minutes, when the Chiefs led 32-12, however the late implosion handed Bristol the win.

Commenting on the defeat, Baxter detailed his frustration at their inability to hold onto the five points, detailing his players “put their head in the sand” when it counted.

“We had an implosion at just the wrong time,” he told the media after the game. “We just couldn’t get ourselves out of the mess we’d created.”

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“A few players were running around putting their heads in the sand a little bit; saying ‘someone else do something’. The first moment of momentum that went against us was the charged-down box kick, which then turned into a yellow card. What we were doing then was ridiculous and we just didn’t recover.”

The crucial yellow card to Dan Frost in the final quarter was the catalyst for the Bears’ sudden turn in the contest. A wonderful run of four tries in eight minutes, including a superb hat-trick from Gabriel Ibitoye, ultimately took the game for the visitors – who have won their past eight away games.

“We didn’t play like a yellow card team at any stage,” Baxter continued. “You don’t put three or four bodies into breakdowns, you linger around there and you don’t step off your wing to counter ruck. I can’t believe their last try. Our widest guy goes into the ruck to try to counter ruck and they just walk down the blindside for a try. I’m not exactly in shock, but I’m left wondering what they are even thinking.”

“This can be the best test of a rugby club”

The Chiefs are certainly in a tough spot at the moment. The loss to Bristol was their fourth this season, and their fifth in a row including their defeat to Leicester Tigers in the final game of last year; but Baxter is relishing the challenge now in front of them.

“It’s our job as coaches to get them through it. We will either stumble in quite good games or we will win very well,” he said.

“This sometimes can be the best test of a rugby club. Every year in the first five or six I was in charge here, people would say ‘things are going pretty positively, what’s your next big challenge? Getting into the top four, winning a final’, but I’d respond ‘there is only one big challenge that’s going to happen to this club is when we lose our first four or five Premiership games.”

He continued: “This is our challenge now. We either face it, get better and come through it or it compounds into bigger issues.”

Exeter now turn their attention to a huge away trip to Newcastle Falcons. Could this be the game they need to turn their fortunes around?

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