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Baxter sends warning to Champions Cup 'big guns' after qualification
By PA
Exeter’s director of rugby Rob Baxter praised his side’s resilience after seeing them secure a place in the knockout stages of the Investec Champions Cup with a last-gasp 19-17 win over Glasgow at Sandy Park.
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Exeter had to overcome a 10-point deficit going into the final quarter and then survive last-minute drama when Glasgow replacement Euan Ferrie was denied the winning try following a controversial call from the officials, who deemed that he had broken a five-metre scrum too early.
The defeat puts Glasgow’s qualification for the next round in severe jeopardy and they will certainly have to beat Toulon in their final fixture at Scotstoun on Friday if they are to have any chance of progressing.
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Despite being the more potent attackers, the Scots will rue a number of handling errors at crucial times and their failure to take advantage of a yellow card for Exeter’s number eight Greg Fisilau.
Baxter said: “The lads have something in them, almost a never-say-die attitude so huge credit to them.
“Close finishes seem to be happening every week and it is certainly no good for the blood pressure.
“The fans will know that we were not at 100 per cent today but we have had a tough run of fixtures whereas Glasgow have had a two-week prep for this.
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“It certainly made a difference in the first half when their energy levels seemed to be greater.
“I was confident that when the final decision was referred to the TMO that the try would be disallowed.
“Getting to the TMO was crucial but he would have then seen a number of things going on which would see the try ruled out. There was a clear obstruction on our scrum-half and their forward leaving the scrum early.
“It’s important you secure home ties in the knockout stages and I see no reason why we can’t knock over a few of the big guns especially as we have a few players returning from injury.”
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Jacques Vermeulen, Dan Frost and Zack Wimbush scored Exeter‘s tries with Henry Slade converting two.
Kyle Rowe and Sione Tuipulotu scored Glasgow’s tries. Duncan Weir converted both and George Horne added a penalty.
Glasgow’s head coach Franco Smith said: “Obviously we are disappointed with the final result but there are a lot of good things to take away from the performance.
“I’m not going to criticise the referee’s decision at the end as he had to determine whether our player detached himself early but it shouldn’t have come down to that.
“We had a lot of opportunities in the first half to take the game away from them but we didn’t take them.
“The bounce of the ball prevented one score, we regularly dropped the ball and we didn’t take advantage of a number of clean line-breaks.”
