Rob Baxter says his side need to show ‘resilience’ in top of the table clash against Northampton Saints

Exeter Chiefs Director of Rugby Rob Baxter has called for his side to put in a resilient, full 80 minute performance this weekend against Northampton Saints.

Northampton romped to an impressive 34-19 victory against the Chiefs at Franklin’s Gardens back in November; but ahead of the sides next meeting at Sandy park this weekend Baxter has laid out what his side need to do to avoid another ‘seeing to’.

“Well, I mean they gave us a bit of a bit of a seeing to up at Franklin’s Gardens, so we’re very aware that there’s a lot of threats there,” he said.

“We’ve got to do two things. We’ve got to start well because we didn’t start well up at Franklin’s Gardens; and then we’ve got to show resilience and fight across the 80 minutes because they’re also very capable of scoring quickly towards the end of the game.”

Northampton Saints are unbeaten in their seven of their last eight games in all competitions ahead of this weekends meeting-a run which includes the previous meeting with the Chiefs back in November.

This good run of form has seen the Saints skyrocket up the Premiership table and they now sit at the summit; and it has drawn very high praise from the Exeter boss.

“I think they’re enjoying what they’re doing. I’ve said this for years, when you watch teams enjoying what they do, you know there’s always going to be a threat because there’s a reason teams enjoy what they’re doing, because training is going well and the performances are going well”

“There’s a lot they’ve got going right. Their set-piece is functioning. Defensively they’re functioning pretty well. There’s a lot of good things to say about them.”

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Despite the mass exodus of the ‘golden generation’, Exeter also find themselves in great form this season and come into this weekend’s clash second in the table. A win for Rob Baxter’s men would also see them leapfrog the Saints into first place.

Whilst this could create some pressure, Baxter was very keen to highlight his players should enjoy moments like these.

“The last thing I said to the players was this is a top of the table clash. This is brilliant, there’s no pressure here, this is just fun, this is just great. Every single one of you should be delighted by playing in these kind of games because the lads are enjoying it.”

He also added the club are very much in the ‘week by week’ mindset: “I think we’re enjoying ourselves week by week. I think we’re keeping pretty level-headed on results.”