Exeter Chiefs: Rob Baxter admits ‘reality’ of mounting pressure following record loss

Exeter Chiefs director of rugby Rob Baxter
Exeter Chiefs director of rugby Rob Baxter has admitted he is under serious pressure following his side’s record-breaking loss at the hands of Bordeaux Begles in the Investec Champions Cup.?
The 52-point defeat is the biggest margin the Chiefs have ever lost by in the club’s history, and it was also the most points the club have conceded at Sandy Park in a single match.
“We’ve just been well-beaten”
This latest defeat is also Exeter’s third-successive negative in this season’s Champions Cup campaign – putting them out of the picture for the last 16 – and also marks their 13th defeat this season in all competitions.
“The reality is I’m a professional sports coach and we’ve just been well-beaten in a competition we qualified for,” Baxter said when quizzed on the mounting pressure at Sandy Park.
He added: “It might not be the competition we need to be in at the stage we are as a team, but we are and we need to do better than that.”
Over the past few weeks, it had appeared things were starting to turn around for the Chiefs this season.
They secured their first Premiership win of the season at home to Gloucester, and could have made it two on the spin if not for a late Leicester Tigers resurgence at Mattioli Woods Welford Road; however, the mammoth 11-try loss today has seemingly taken Exeter right back to square one.
“The scoreline has got away from us and showed it for what it was – a bit of a stuffing,” Baxter said on the game. “I would like to think it would be a good learning experience for us down the line, but right now it’s taught us that we have to work extremely, extremely hard on our foundations and getting everyone believing in them and sticking at them.”
“Nobody likes to have a load of points stuffed up their shirt,” he continued. “But that’s the reality. As a professional sportsman, you have to move on, get on with things and that’s exactly what they’ll do.
“Today, Bordeaux were fantastic at capitalising on every opportunity they had and pretty much scored a try every time we made a mistake. This has been a tough day for us and we’ve got to try and move on.”
Exeter now turn their attention to a visit to Ulster in their final Champions Cup game of the season. Ulster also find themselves stuck in the midst of a rut, so both teams will see it as a great opportunity to build some confidence with a win.