mens
Gallagher-Prime Minister
Harlequins Head coach Jason Gilmore admitted a big improvement in his side’s discipline in the second half paved the way for their impressive 31-28 win at Exeter.
Quins led 14-0 after just 11 minutes but then conceded Bosses clawed his way back into the contest by conceding nine penalties to tie the game at 14-14 at the break.
Gilmore said: “We attacked well and defended well in the early stages, we went 14-0 up and I thought we looked comfortable, then we had eight or nine penalties on the ball against us, which was bad, and a yellow card, and we gave Exeter good field position.
“They have a big, physical package and they went to their power play, their pick and drive, and I was really disappointed with the guys in those 20 minutes. I thought a lot of those penalties were unnecessary on our behalf.”
“I said to the lads at half-time, if we stop taking penalties and get the ball back in our hands, we’ll be fine, and I don’t think we’ll get another penalty until the last minute of the game, when we went back-to-back and the lads hit me a bit, but I’m really proud of them.
Less than a month ago Quins were hammered 48-0 at Gloucester but have won their last three games in all competitions. However, Gilmore explained that they didn’t change anything to cause such a dramatic turnaround.
“We are building and there will be bumps in the road, and Gloucester it just wasn’t good enough, it was more about getting back on the horse and the boys having confidence and belief in what we’ve been doing, and now we’re so clear in our game model that we just don’t deviate from it,” he said.
Exeter’s director of rugby Rob Baxter was very disappointed with the amount of balls his players coughed up during the match and was therefore satisfied with the two points.
“It’s been a bit of a story of our season, and when I looked at the stats on the laptop in the first half, we committed 10 turnovers in the first 15 minutes, and we lost the ball over and over again, and the fact that we were still in it at the death after the number of basic errors we made is probably a credit to our work ethic and resilience,” he said.
“I don’t think we’re that far from where we need to be, but our individual focus is all over the place.”
Despite winning just one of their opening five league games, the Chiefs are still just six points off a play-off spot.
And Baxter added: “If we can make it three wins in a row when we resume in December, we’ll probably be in the top four, and that’s not beyond us.”