Baxter's half-time belief fuels Exeter's 16-point comeback to stun champions Bath

Exeter Chiefs produced one of the Gallagher Premiership play-offs’ most remarkable comebacks on Saturday, overturning a 16-point half-time deficit to defeat champions Bath 27-26 at the Rec and advance to the final against Northampton at Allianz Stadium next Saturday.

Head coach Rob Baxter revealed that his opening words at the interval were ones of conviction rather than crisis. “The first words I said at half-time were ‘I’m really confident we’re going to win the game’,” Baxter told reporters after the match. He explained that Bath’s visible efforts to slow the tempo in the closing stages of the first half had given him encouragement, with the champions unable to extend their lead beyond 16 points despite sustained pressure.

“I know we are fit, I know we’re resilient, and the harder they had to work, the more they were starting to flag,” Baxter said. “I just thought ‘this is going to be our time’. If we were ever going to exploit it, it was going to be now.”

Exeter scored 17 unanswered second-half points, with replacement prop Ethan Burger crossing in the 68th minute to put the Chiefs ahead for the first time. Bath mounted a frantic late response, going through 40 phases of play in the closing stages, but replacement prop Billy Sela was held up over the line and Exeter held on.

It was only the seventh occasion in 46 Premiership play-off matches that an away side had won, and it secured Exeter’s first final appearance since 2021. The result carries particular weight given the club finished ninth last season, a campaign that included a 79-17 defeat at Gloucester.

“It might not be a final, but this is up there because of the bounce from last season,” Baxter said. “You look at the players fighting to a standstill — I don’t know how they did it. They are the same players who shipped 79 points at Gloucester, but they are different men now. Bath are a hell of a team, and the only thing that makes our performance worth anything is we have beaten a very good, well-coached team.”

Bath head of rugby Johann van Graan acknowledged the fine margins that cost his side. “One point is the biggest and smallest margin in sport,” he said. “We were set up for the drop-goal and to take it wide. Ultimately, the decision was taken to pick and go and I back the team with that. We win together and lose together. I am proud of what we have done.”