Exeter boss Rob Baxter was left to reflect on “an incredible finale” after his team secured an unlikely place in this season’s European Champions Cup quarter-finals.
The Chiefs’ 33-17 bonus point victory over Ospreys at Sandy Park saw them through on points difference after both teams and French challengers Bordeaux-Begles all finished level in Pool Two.
The three-way tie on 16 points was separated under tournament rules by results of games between the three clubs, with Exeter and Bordeaux, who were surprise 37-28 conquerors of Clermont Auvergne yesterday, then still tied, which meant points difference being utilised and ultimately working in Chiefs’ favour.
Exe ran in five tries – two each from outstanding wing James Short and number eight Thomas Waldrom, plus a Don Armand touchdown – to triumph, with Gareth Steenson adding three conversions and Will Hooley one.
Debut Champions Cup quarter-finalists Exeter will be joined in the last eight by Saracens, Leicester, Racing 92, Wasps, Toulon, Stade Francais and Northampton. The Ospreys, though, crashed out after scoring an early Hanno Dirksen try and claiming a late penalty try, while Dan Biggar kicked seven points, and Wales’ wait for a top-flight European quarter-finalist – they last achieved it in 2012 – goes on.
Baxter said: “I am obviously delighted, but delighted more for the players than anything else. “Qualifying out of this pool today was very unlikely. We talked about the character we wanted to show and what we wanted to take out of the game. We didn’t expect to be winning the pool, but the players put in a fantastic shift and got a real tangible reward for it.
“We knew the score was staying pretty close between Clermont and Bordeaux, and it all started getting really confusing. We didn’t know if we needed to kick the ball off the pitch at the end or score another try. It has been an incredible finale to the weekend. It is always nice when hard work gets rewarded, and I think that is what we have seen.”
Exeter will now visit Wasps at the last-eight stage in early April, and Baxter added: “We don’t need to worry about Europe now. It’s a long way away, and that is fantastic because it gives us a chance to thicken out our squad with players returning from injury. We will enjoy it tonight, and then it is back to business with the Aviva Premiership.”
Meanwhile, Leicester director of rugby Richard Cockerill is delighted to have home advantage when his side meet Stade Francais again in the European Champions Cup. Stade claimed a 36-21 bonus point win at home to Tigers, setting up a knockout-stage clash in April.
“We’ll be happy to be at home because historically that gives you the best chance of going further and we’ll have a warm welcome for them,” Cockerill said. “It will be a great occasion.”
