Newcastle Falcons defeated Exeter Chiefs 24-18 at Kingston Park on Friday night in Round 5 of the 2024/25 Gallagher Premiership.
Rob Baxter described Exeter Chiefs as a ‘Jekyll and Hyde squad’ after they lost 24-18 away to Newcastle Falcons on Friday night.
While Exeter may have a trio of excellent sports cars in Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, Paul Brown-Bampoe, and Josh Hodge, who should have been ready to purr on Kingston Park’s artificial surface, they were mainly rendered ineffective by the Falcons’ resolve to steamroller to victory. The Chiefs’ greatest crime was that, despite exploding out of the blocks to put Feyi-Waboso over in the corner inside five minutes, they allowed dogged Newcastle to dictate the nature of the contest in their favour, with the hosts ending a 19-month Premiership win drought with a brace of tries from hooker Jamie Blamire and one through big South African flanker Philip van der Walt.
Reflecting on Exeter’s sixth consecutive loss to begin the season, Chiefs director of rugby Rob Baxter said: “We were knocked off our stride, and fair play to Newcastle, they got under our skin and stayed there.”
“It was not a terrific performance. I can’t dress it up. We got off to a good start, but our ability to maintain momentum is lacking. We just need to attempt and build up the lads and instill some confidence and belief. At the same time, the players just remarked in the locker rooms that it doesn’t matter what game plan or patterns we want to play if we can’t keep the ball, and that was part of the story of the game.”
Newcastle dominated the breakdown throughout the game, winning many turnovers, which, along with some foolish penalties and terrible basic errors, limited Exeter to only 75 carries, the fewest in the Premiership since the league began tracking that metric.
Baxter thought about the situation: “We are definitely a Jekyll and Hyde team, we have got some great moments in us and we have got an ability to break up ourselves.”
With Harlequins coming to Sandy Park in Round Six of the Gallagher Premiership next Sunday, Baxter remains optimistic that this moment of difficulty for his beloved team will prove character-building and lay the groundwork for future success. However, he stated that it will ultimately be up to the players. He proceeded: “If we run away from this challenge it will be a bad experience, but if we decide to really jump at it and face this head-on and fight through it then you can get bonuses from it.”
Exeter avoided finishing the weekend bottom of the table thanks to a late converted try by Josh Hodge, who earned a losing bonus point; instead, they are ninth, one match point above of Newcastle.
Steve Diamond, Falcons director of rugby, added: “I’m happy; I believe it was an arm wrestle between two struggling sides. What we needed to do was stay in it, and a win tonight was critical for us to be competitive in the league.”
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