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Rob Baxter's frank admission as Exeter miss play-offs for first time in 7 years

By PA
Charles Piutau of Bristol Bears challenges Stuart Hogg of Exeter Chiefs during the Gallagher Premiership Rugby match between Bristol Bears and Exeter Chiefs at Ashton Gate on May 20, 2022 in Bristol, England. (Photo by Harry Trump/Getty Images)

Boss Rob Baxter admitted defeat declaring Exeter were “done on the play-offs” following Friday night’s 40-33 Gallagher Premiership defeat against Bristol at Ashton Gate.

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The Chiefs, six times Premiership finalists, are unlikely to make the top four for the first time since 2015.

Two losing bonus points means that Exeter still have the tiniest mathematical chance of progressing, but they are four points behind fourth-placed Northampton with just one game left, and Saints or Gloucester can end Exeter’s chances in their games on Saturday.

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Baxter said: “We are done on the play-offs, aren’t we? Two points tonight – I think we are done. Mathematically, maybe not, I am not sure.

“It is disappointing. I think today has kind of highlighted that we have got to move on.

“I’ve said to the lads ‘get your heads up, but at the same time open your eyes and believe at some stage that we have to move on’, which means we have to move forward as players.

“I think we have become a little bit stubborn as a group of players as to where we are moving on and what we want to do and how we want to go and achieve things, and actually they need to stop and open their eyes and move forward.

“We’ve got to be better.

“We can’t just stand here and go ‘we can just be the same people and next season we will just win’. It won’t work like that. We have got to improve as individuals and as a team.

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“There is a lot of work to be done and it kind of starts now.

“What I really want to see is a team that is enjoying itself again and the truth is, you only enjoy yourself when you are playing well and performing to near your maximum capabilities and we haven’t done that at all this season.

“It has been a tough season for all kind of reasons, but I don’t want to keep making excuses.

“When you concede 40 points, you’re not going to win many games of Premiership rugby doing that. I can’t say much else.”

Exeter fought their way back from 14 points adrift in an 11-try thriller, but wing Toby Fricker’s interception try and a later Luke Morahan score saw Bristol home.

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Fricker and Morahan apart, full-back Charles Piutau crossed twice for Bristol, with fly-half Callum Sheedy and centre Alapati Leiua also touching down, while Sheedy kicked four conversions and Ioan Lloyd one.

Exeter went blow for blow through touchdowns for Santiago Grondona, Josh Hodge, James Kenny, Olly Woodburn and Dave Ewers – while Joe Simmonds booted four conversions – but Bristol prevailed with a powerful finish.

For 10th-placed Bristol, it was only their eighth win of a poor Premiership campaign.

Bristol rugby director Pat Lam said: “Tonight, we talked about enjoying this game and working hard and playing with no fear.

“If people look closely at what we have done, we have grown the framework of our game a lot. What we are lacking is just the technical detail across the board.

“We have got to get better and get our fundamentals right. That is an area we are going to be driving very hard in pre-season.”

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AM 8 minutes ago
'Freelancer' Izaia Perese shows the need for true inclusivity in Australian rugby

That's Cron's job though. Australia has had one of the most penalised scrums in international rugby for a long time. Just look at the scrum win loss percentage and scrum penalties. That is your evidence. AA has been the starter during that period. Pretty simple analysis. That Australia has had a poor scrum for a long time is hardly news. If bell and thor are not on the field they are woeful. So you are just plain wrong. They have very little time for the lions so doing the same old things that dont work is not going to get them there.


Ainsley is better than our next best tighthead options and has been playing well at scrum time for Lyon in the most competitive comp in the world. Superstar player? No. But better than the next best options. So that is a good enough guide. The scrummaging in the Prem is pretty good too so there is Sio's proof. Same analysis for him. Certainly better in both cases than Super, where the brumbies had the worst win loss and scrum pen in Super. Who plays there? Ohh yes... And the level of scrummaging in Super is well below the URC, prem and France with the SA teams out.


Nongorr is truly woeful. He's 130kg and gets shoved about. That just should not be happening at that weight for a specialist prop who has always played rugby cf pone with leauge. He has had enough time to develop at 23. You'd be better off with Pone who is at least good around the field for the moment and sending Nongorr on exchange to France or England to see if they can improve him with better coaching as happened with Skelton and Meafou. He isn't going to develop in time in super if he has it at all.


Latu is a better scrummaging hooker than BPA and Nasser. and he's the best aussie player over the ball at ruck time. McReight's super jackling percentage hasnt converted to international level but latu consistently does it at heniken level, which is similar to test level in the big games. With good coaching at La Rochelle he's much improved though still has the odd shocker. He should start the November games.

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