Yahoo News Rob Baxter diagnoses why Exeter Chiefs came up short at Leicester Tigers
Exeter Chiefs director of rugby Rob Baxter felt his players may have been too emotional in the 40-22 defeat at Leicester that snuffed out their Gallagher Premiership play-off hopes.
In truth, results elsewhere with Sale Sharks beating Saracens 20-10 at the StoneX Stadium, meant the outcome at Welford Road was academic, although Exeter did not help themselves with an ill-disciplined and unstructured display that lacked accuracy in key moments. Leicester, on the other hand, produced an impressive performance that ended what has been a trying season for them on a high, with a red card for Jasper Wiese in his final game for the club the only negative.
Baxter said: “We turned up here very emotionally driven, threw a lot of energy into the early part of the game, but did we really have a cast-iron direction and accuracy? No.
“We threw a lot of emotion into the game and with things like what happened with [the death of] Jack Yeandle’s dad this morning, and the players knowing about that, it really meant a lot to them to try and put a big performance on the field.
“I just said to them ‘I know you really care about what’s happened, I know you’ve really been emotive about it, I know this is really hurting you, but let’s make sure we learn this lesson’.
“One of the best ways for me to describe our performance was at one stage it looked like we had 15 guys on the field all trying to win the game on their own.”
After Immanuel Feyi-Waboso’s opening try for Exeter, Leicester hit back through tries for Ollie Hassell-Collins and Jack van Poortvliet to lead 20-10 at half-time.
Scores from Tommy Reffell and Mike Brown effectively killed the game off for the Tigers before the Chiefs pulled back tries through Dan Frost and Ross Vintcent, who had earlier been speared by Wiese for his red card.
The result means Exeter finish the season sitting seventh in the table which doesn't tell the true story of the remarkable rebuild job Baxter has done at the club in just one year following a clear out of most of Chiefs' 'golden generation' who helped them to the summit in the Champions Cup and Premiership in recent years.
Baxter said: "Overall I am immensely proud of the guys, they have achieved some incredible things and have had some incredible experiences and given me, the coaches and the supporters some incredible experiences. They have also given us some heartattacks and heartache, but that is sport.
"To come down to the final day of the season with something to play for, even though with the other scores it was out our hands in the end, is fantastic."
Leicester Tigers: 15 Freddie Steward, 14 Mike Brown, 13 Matt Scott, 12 Dan Kelly, 11 Ollie Hassell-Collins, 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Jack van Poortvliet, 1 Francois van Wyk, 2 Julián Montoya (C), 3 Dan Cole, 4 George Martin, 5 Harry Wells, 6 Hanro Liebenberg, 7 Tommy Reffell 8 Jasper Wiese.
Replacements:16 Charlie Clare, 17 James Cronin, 18 Joe Heyes, 19 Finn Carnduff, 20 Olly Cracknell, 21 Tom Whiteley, 22 Kieran Wilkinson, 23 Solomone Kata.
Exeter Chiefs: 15 Dan John, 14 Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Joe Hawkins, 11 Olly Woodburn, 10 Harvey Skinner, 9 Tom Cairns, 1 Scott Sio, 2 Max Norey, 3 Marcus Street, 4 Jack Dunne, 5 Dafydd Jenkins (c), 6 Ethan Roots, 7 Jacques Vermeulen, 8 Greg Fisilau
Replacements: 16 Dan Frost, 17 Billy Keast, 18 Ehren Painter, 19 Christ Tshiunza, 20 Ross Vintcent, 21 Niall Armstrong, 22 Will Haydon-Wood, 23 Zack Wimbush
Referee: Karl Dickson
Assistant Referees: Hamish Smales and John Meredith
TMO: Chris Sharp
