Rob Baxter hails ‘massive character’ shown by Exeter Chiefs in comeback win over Munster

Exeter Chiefs director of rugby Rob Baxter hailed his side’s “massive character” after they launched a superb fightback en route to a 32-24 Champions Cup victory over Munster at Sandy Park on Sunday.

Munster dominated proceedings for long periods but after leading 19-10 at half-time and 24-13 midway through the second half, they lost the plot in the final quarter as the Chiefs scored 19 unanswered points during that period.

Henry Slade leads the way

Henry Slade led the way with a 17-point contribution for Exeter courtesy of a try, three conversions and two penalties, and their other points came via tries from Dan Frost, Ross Vintcent and Jack Dunne.

For Munster, Calvin Nash, Thomas Ahern, Antoine Frisch and Shane Daly scored tries while Jack Crowley added a couple of conversions.

The result means the Chiefs have won both their Champions Cup matches, after also defeating Toulon in their tournament opener, while Munster are still winless after drawing at home with Toulon last week.

“When they scored just after half-time, I looked at our players behind the posts and looking at their body language, I questioned whether they were shot, but they went on to show massive character,” said Baxter.

“We had to stay in the fight and take our opportunities as Munster have great tradition and were here to win.

“They adopted a great attacking policy, and it nearly succeeded in beating us.

“We defended the rucks too compactly as we had four men within inches of it defending nothing and our backs didn’t defend with sufficient width.

“We took too long to work that out, but we succeeded in doing that by the second half when we also elected to kick more.

“We took three points to stay in contention and then took our chances to win the game.”

Baxter was full of praise for Slade, who was also in fine form against Toulon where he scored the match-winning penalty in the dying moments of that game.

“He’s just loving it and he’s training like a young man and playing like he was when he was first called up by England,” he said of the 30-year-old.

Meanwhile, Munster boss Graham Rowntree admitted that it was a frustrating watch after his side were on the wrong side of some refereeing decisions.

Harvey Skinner was somewhat fortunate not to be yellow carded for a high tackle on Crowley while Slade’s try was awarded after the match officials looked at several television replays.

‘Hugely frustrated’

“I’m hugely frustrated and need to calm down and have another look at some of the crucial incidents,” said Rowntree.

“We scored some cracking tries to get a bonus point and get on top of them, but the game got away from us, and it shows that the game is never over.

“The third try from the bouncing ball was just crazy and was against the run of play.

“As far as this competition is concerned, we’ll see how the cards develop as we still have Toulon away and (Northampton) Saints at home, but we are the world specialists in making life difficult for ourselves.”

READ MORE: Exeter Chiefs’ stunning fightback floors Munster at Sandy Park