How Rob inspired Chiefswith Seahawks mentality

EXETER supremo Rob Baxter has revealed how NFL side Seattle Seahawks played an unlikely part in last season’s stunning Premiership triumph.

A disappointing start to what turned into a magical campaign saw Chiefs lose four of their opening six league matches and suffer a Champions Cup battering by Clermont, left Baxter doubting his side’s ability to mount a challenge.

However, Baxter has now shone a light on how he drew inspiration from a documentary charting Seattle’s Super Bowl success in 2014, a year after they had suffered heartbreak in the NFL play-offs.

In a revealing passage from Exeter’s new book, Road To Glory: The Inside

Story, Baxter recalls: “We were a team trying to deal with having a really good season after reaching the final the year before – and we were not dealing with it as well as we could.

“After we were well beaten by Clermont we decided to make some change and I started looking on the internet about how you approach a losing final in terms of how it drives you the following season, after our loss to Saracens at Twickenham.

“I came across Seattle and thought, ‘wow, what a parallel to what happened to us in our final in May’. Seattle’s response was, ‘we will never lose in the playoffs again. We will punish whoever gets in our way. We are a better team than that.’

“I showed it our team and still remember the look on the faces of players who’d been with Exeter a long time and enjoyed their best season. But it was seminal moment and we went unbeaten in the league from that moment to winning it.”

Authored by local journalist Nigel Walrond, Exeter’s book is a brilliant account of their dramatic season through the eyes of Baxter, who reveals omitting winger James Short from the final squad was one of his hardest coaching decisions.

Road To Glory: The Inside

Story (£14.99) is available through exeterchiefs.co.uk, with a percentage of any profit going to the Exeter Foundation.