Baxter sounds warning as Exeter grind out win

Sometimes there is just one acceptable outcome and, from Exeter's perspective, this victory was the absolute minimum requirement.

- Robert Kitson

Sometimes there is just one acceptable outcome and, from Exeter's perspective, this victory was the absolute minimum requirement. Had they been beaten by what was almost Northampton's third team, having folded embarrassingly at Gloucester last time out, the sound of teeth being gnashed would have been heard from Totnes to Tiverton.

Not that Rob Baxter, now back in a more hands-on role following the removal of two of his senior coaches, sounded the least bit triumphal. He had been seeking a no-nonsense response to the Kingsholm drubbing but made it clear later that standards had to rise significantly on and off the field if Exeter want to revisit the sunlit uplands of English club rugby.

Despite the lopsided final scoreline, Baxter's side struggled to string together more than four consecutive phases in the first 40 minutes and this summer is set to involve plenty of brutal honesty. "I am not going to give the lads an easy way out and say, 'Well done, five-point win, hallelujah, all our problems are solved,' Baxter said. "I have gone in there and said: 'Guys, that is a regulation win against a Premiership second team and we have a lot to work on.'