Premiership champions must stop overthinking it

Exeter Chiefs may be the reigning Aviva Premiership champions but when it comes to Europe they are still looking to make their mark.

Over the past five years it has been a familiar story for director of rugby Rob Baxter and his side when it comes to continental competition.

They have competed in the Champions Cup in four out of the past five seasons and only once have they made it past the pool stages. That came during the 2015/16 campaign when a miraculous final round of results led to them making the quarter-finals. Exeter recorded a bonus point victory over the Ospreys, while Bordeaux-Begles stunned Clermont Auvergne 37-28 to put the Chiefs through on points difference.

Other than that, there has been little for Exeter to sing about when it comes to Europe. So now, as the reigning champions of England, is the onus finally on them to step up for this year’s Champions Cup?

“Regardless of winning the Premiership, I don’t think that changes that target for us too much,” says Baxter.

“Our big challenge is to get through rounds one and two, so we can say we are still masters of our own destiny. That has been rare for us in the Champions Cup.”

Baxter is certainly right when it comes to Exeter and slow starts. Last season they were instantly on the back foot after losing their first two pool matches. The year before that they lost their opening match to Ospreys.

In the 2013/14 campaign they lost their second match of the tournament on the way to four pool defeats, while the season prior to that they were beaten in both their opening games.

When only one team in each pool is guaranteed safe passage to the knockout stages, playing catch-up isn’t an option.

“In a lot of ways we are still relatively new to this and we are learning all the time,” says Baxter. “I think the Ospreys game [in 2015] was a big reminder to us because we did a few things in that game that were, in a way, suicidal.

“When we talked to the players after in their reviews, quite a few of them they made those comments — ‘I thought I might need to do something a bit different, a bit extra.’

“You don’t have to. You have to do what we do. You have to do it really well and with great intensity.”

In Baxter’s eyes, it is not so much a physical hurdle for Exeter to get over when it comes to performing in Europe as a mental one. His side have shown domestically how good they can be on their day, but when it comes to the Champions Cup they have essentially overthought things.

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ow Baxter wants Exeter to focus on what they do, instead of worrying about how they will cope with the challenges of European rugby.

“The way we play in the Premiership has beat Saracens. It has beaten Wasps in big games,” says Baxter.

“I think what I would like to think we’ve learned is that when we do what we do, and we do it well, the facts say that should work in Europe.

“I think that is why we can learn a little bit from Saracens. Saracens are comfortable and confident enough to do what they do. They know that actually, it works in the Premiership and it can work for them in Europe as well. I think that is what we need to learn.

“It has worked for other English clubs. Yes, there are different teams and they might have different strengths. Of course there is.

“But does that mean we need to find a miracle? No.”

Exeter’s task of succeeding in Europe this season will be harder than ever as they have been handed one of the toughest pools in the Champions Cup. After their opening day clash with Glasgow Warriors this weekend, they must navigate past Leinster and Montpellier.

The latter of those two are one of the dark horses for this season’s competition after adding half-backs Aaron Cruden and Ruan Pienaar to their ranks this summer, as well as number eight Louis Picamoles.

However, even with all that on the horizon, Baxter does not want Exeter to deviate from what has led them to become champions of England.

“We don’t need to complicate how the games are going to go or what we are going to do,” he says. “In a way what will be the bigger mark of our progress in Europe for me is putting in Exeter Chiefs style performances.

“Aaron Cruden or Picamoles playing for Montpellier shouldn’t effectively stop us doing what we do.

“Why should those two guys being in the team stop that? It shouldn’t. If it does, that is us getting it wrong.”