Exeter Chiefs head coach Rob Baxter addressed more journalists than usual at this week’s press call ahead of the club’s Aviva Premiership final against Saracens.
Reporters, photographers and camera crews from all over the UK descended on Devon to get the thoughts of Baxer as the champions look to defend their crown at Twickenham on Saturday. This is how it went…
Q - HOW IS THE SQUAD FITNESS-WISE, ANY KNOCKS FROM THE WEEKEND?
Everyone has come through unscathed which was obviously pleasing. We haven’t picked up anything during the week yet and obviously guys who haven’t been involved for a few weeks, like Dave Dennis, Harry Williams etc have had more days of full training, so we are looking a pretty strong group at the moment.
Q – ARE DAVE AND HARRY IN CONTENTION FOR SELECTION?
Just like everybody else, the guys that are in full training are in contention. Whether they have had enough opportunity to get game time into them for us to drop them into final selection is a very tough call, but as I say, it was a very good performance in the semi-final, we have bene on form with a certain group over a number of weeks now and as I say, they are going to be very tough calls to make.
Q – HOW DO YOU ASSESS THE CHALLENGE OF SARACENS, ROB?
Well, the truth is that you don’t have to look back at the last three or four games, you only have to look back to their last one to see how dangerous they can be.
There is a huge reality that we have to make it a titanic struggle on the gain line and around the set piece if we want to get any kind of foothold in the game, but it is always like that with Saracens. Those aren’t things that you have to try and find one week, you have to find those every time you play them.
That is something that you have to be aware of and if you fail in those battles, then you fail in the game, so it will be an interesting challenge for us.
I think we are in good form as well and a good run of not just wins, but a good run of performances. We have had some recent success against Saracens, although we are not so naïve as to realise that they probably have not been full strength sides against full strength sides, if you talk about international availability etc, so it will be a very interesting challenge.
I am really pleased that it’s Saracens because over the course of the year, we have been the two most consistent sides, we finished in the top two and were the home semi-finalists. We did lose to them a couple of years ago and I think it is one of those games that… I don’t want to say all or nothing, but it does feel like that a little bit because Saracens haven’t been in the latter stages of Europe this year and there is no real reason for us not to say this is a game where we go absolutely flat out and we can say with no excuses who comes out on top.
Q – WHAT HAVE THE KEY MESSAGES BEEN THIS WEEK AROUND THE GROUP?
A little bit of putting the semi-final behind us and leaving it behind us. I thought we did that really well going into the semi-final, we left our best-ever Premiership season behind us really well, because we have never finished top of the pile before and we did that with a little bit of time to spare.
I thought we dealt with that situation really well, we managed to leave that behind and we certainly didn’t roll into the Newcastle game, which is very important. We didn’t prepare for that game and go ‘we are in good form, we are top of the league, we’ll be fine’ I thought it was probably one of our best performances ever against Newcastle.
Despite the scoreline being tight for a long time, it was the most control I think we’ve ever had against them. Even this season, at home, when we actually had a five-point win, there was a period in the game where they scored two or three tries to come back and get a bonus point. Well, we never let that situation happen on Saturday, so we have taken a step up from a good league season into a semi-final, and the important thing now is to step up again.
At the same time, we have to make sure that what we did last week counts the same this week, which is to prepare to be very good yourself, focus on your own qualities and what you want to bring to the game and try not to get too carried away with bits and pieces that you might think you need to add for one off games.
There is always going to be little momentum moments you could try and win or add to a game, but on the whole, these games are won by the team that can force their own game plan that they are comfortable with on the game for the longest. That is our battle and that is Saracens’ battle as well.
Q – DOES IT HELP IN A WAY THAT YOU ONLY HAVE FOUR PEOPLE THAT STARTED LAST YEAR? IT MAKES IT FRESH. IN A WAY, YOU’D LIKE EVERYTHING TO BE THE SAME THESE LAST FEW DAYS AND DO EVERYTHING EXACTLY THE SAME, BUT THAT’S NOT POSSIBLE.
I suppose it is a little bit foreign, I know there is only four starting that started last year, but it is a little bit false because we have a numerous number of the bench and a couple of guys running full on with the squad now and just getting back from injury. So the group itself isn’t as changed as it sounds and they were guys that were involved in semi-finals, our run to the semi-finals and training and they were all there at Twickenham.
I think actually it is a big group that has been involved and they have an experience of it, I think the freshness can add a bit of desperation when you need it sometimes. We have quite a number of guys there who weren’t the guys that lifted the trophy last year and as much as they were delighted to be part of the squad, they haven’t had that feeling and it is something you should fight for and you should want to taste and experience.
We have got to expect those guys to be part of our driving force and part of our motivation to be a better side. If the guys who haven’t yet achieved things for you can’t add to your motivation, they shouldn’t be at the club, they should go somewhere else.
You can’t just rely on the guys that have done it for you before and say they are going to be the most highly motivated people, they can only be driven by the people beneath them and I think that is what we have seen from the group this year.
Q - ARE YOU DOING EVERYTHING ELSE THE SAME? I MEAN, ARE YOU STAYING IN THE SAME PLACE – I KNOW THE COLOUR OF THE SHORT WILL BE DIFFERENT.
We are doing most things the same, as you can imagine!
Q - DO YOU TAKE LITTLE BITS FROM THE LAST TWO FINALS?
Yes, they are too important a games to not learn from and we learnt a fair bit from the first one, as much as what to expect when we arrive at Twickenham.
We have a fantastic supporter-base here but I think most people were taken aback by the level of support as we drove into Twickenham. Literally, the bus had to crawl through our supporters, they were five-six deep all along the driveway coming into Twickenham, the volume of singing from our support was incredible.
Once you have experienced that and you know that it is coming, you can very easily shut yourself down and lock yourself away from it and I think those elements, when you have experienced them and learnt from them and you can talk about them quite openly and say let’s make sure we don’t let anything distract us before we hit the pitch, can help.
You’ve watched Saracens enough, if you are out of the game after 10-15 minutes, then it is very hard to get back into it. The quality of how you actually hit the pitch and react to that first whistle is going to be very, very important and we certainly can’t afford to be having a look around Twickenham while the game is going on.
Q – I KNOW IT ISN’T DIRECTLY LINKED TO THE FINAL, BUT THERE HAS BEEN A LOT OF TALK THIS WEEK AROUND 4G PITCHES WITH SCARLETS GUYS GETTING BURNS AT GLASGOW AND THAT UNFORTUNATE INJURY TO JACK WILLIS. DO YOU THINK THERE NEEDS TO BE A WIDER DEBATE ABOUT THIS BECAUSE MORE AND MORE CLUBS SEM TO BE GOING DOWN THIS PATH.
I think the only thing I can say in a safe way probably is that there is a reason why we have got a Desso (a hybrid grass sports playing field surface composed of natural grass combined with artificial fibres) pitch out there and our training pitch is also a Desso. That speaks for itself, I would say.
Q – SO IT’S AN UNSAFE WAY OF PLAYING THEN?
Well, I would have said that if we felt the best pitch to have out there was a 4G, then we would have one. But we don’t.
Q – YOU SPOKE ABOUT JOE SIMMONDS AFTER THE SEMI-FINAL, HE WAS 24th MAN LAST YEAR, WILL THAT EXPERIENCE HELP HIM BECAUSE HE IS UP AGAINST OWEN FARRELL, WHO IS IN IMPERIOUS FORM AT THE MOMENT. HOW DO YOU SEE THE WEEKEND FOR HIM?
Well, it’s a big game for him. It’s a big game for a guy that is bang in form and I don’t think he has started a Premiership game and not come out on the winning side, so there is another stat that that you can say is working in his favour.
There are loads of ways that we can dress it up and we can make it a way bigger issue than it actually is, but the truth is that he is on form, playing well, he is meriting his place… why don’t we just keep it simple?
That’s what we do, we don’t try and make selection complicated. I am a big believer that the players will select the team, not the coaches. And when I say that, obviously I mean that we view them and watch them and analyse what they do but actually, it is their performance, the way they train and the way they carry themselves and the way they are developing that decides whether we select them or not.
I think that is what Joe is doing. He is keeping things very simple for himself and he is helping us select the side by the way that he is performing and I don’t want to make it any more complicated than that for him.
