When I was growing up, if you’d have said to me that Bristol Rugby Club needed to watch and learn from what Exeter were doing I’d have laughed at you. I didn’t know they had a Rugby Club in Exeter then but times have changed so much that it is the Chiefs from Devon that are now the benchmark for West Country Rugby and so should be given the respect they deserve.
Yet it is one particular aspect of Exeter’s approach this season that I feel the men from the big city can learn from and ensure they don’t allow themselves to get dispirited this early in the campaign.
Fixture List
When we looked at the opening half dozen fixtures for Bristol on their return to the Aviva Premiership, there could not have been a tougher welcome back to the top flight.
An opening salvo against Harlequins amidst all the pomp and splendour of the Twickenham double-header followed by visits of Northampton & Exeter themselves as well as a trip to the Ricoh to take on – many people’s tip to finish in the top two – Wasps.
The fixture list shows no mercy either with the champions Saracens next up at Ashton Gate and although Harlequins’ victory over a slightly depleted side from Allianz Park will give everybody hope that they are in fact beatable, the last team you would pick to face when you’ve experienced the opening run that Bristol have would be the European Champions.
Yet it is Exeter’s approach to the opening results of the season that I believe Bristol can learn from albeit in a different context as regards economies of scale.
Logic
The first two rounds of this campaign saw the Chiefs go down against Wasps and Saracens. At one point sitting at the foot of the table, yet Rob Baxter, Exeter’s Director of Rugby, always maintained that the position they found themselves in after those defeats was entirely possible prior to the season starting and that they should not panic. This ‘Vulcan-like’ logic is refreshing, if not unusual from a ‘DoR’ in the Premiership, after a brace of losses. But it is absolutely typical of a man who keeps his emotions in check and instills that sense of calm in his players, to be able to focus on turning things around one game at a time.
The difference here is that Wasps and Saracens are arguably the only two sides Exeter might consider ‘acceptable’ to lose to. Bristol on the other hand, have to go back to the first game of the season to understand how their season will play out. Yes, losses to the likes of Northampton and Exeter will happen. But it is games like the Twickenham one, which can throw up opportunities. Whether they be to eke out a narrow win, a draw or even taking as many losing bonus points as they can.
Matches to Focus On
It is games like the one after the Saracens visit, when they travel to Newcastle, that they need to focus on and almost approach them in isolation.
The trip kicks off a run of three games including a visit from fellow stuttering starters Sale, followed by a long awaited local derby against cousins Bath. It is these ‘little groups of matches’ which–if approached in the right way–could hold the key to survival this season.
In the words of Corporal Jones from that well known British sitcom Dad’s Army should therefore be ringing loudly around the changing rooms and offices of Ashton Gate, and Bristol should definitely make sure they “don’t panic!”
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