Latest news with #DaveWalder
BBC News
19-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Baxter impressed by Exeter's 'fight and character'
Exeter director of rugby Rob Baxter says he was impressed by the "fight and character" his side showed in their 24-22 loss at Chiefs came back from conceding inside the first three minutes to twice take the lead in the second half before eventually being edged was a marked improvement for the struggling side, who have won just four games all season and are guaranteed to finish a club-low ninth place in the Premiership."We've earned the right to be disappointed," said Baxter, who saw a late Marcus Smith penalty earn victory for hosts Quins."It's one of those games where one decision one way, or one decision the other way, and that game is in the balance."We showed so much fight and character and 'sticking in there', that to me is a huge bonus and a huge plus point."Exeter had new backs and attack coach Dave Walder in attendance for the first time after he was formally appointed on display provided evidence of some shoots of recovery after a difficult season reached its nadir last month with a club-record 79-17 loss at Gloucester that cost head coach Rob Hunter and attack coach Ali Hepher their jobs. "I never thought we were just going to buckle today, I genuinely didn't," Baxter told BBC Radio Devon."It kind of shows, if you prepare not to buckle, you talk about not buckling, you're really honest with each other and you stand up for each other, you can stay in things, even when at one stage it was nearly 85% possession and territory to Quins early in the game."But we stuck at it, we scored some tries. I'm a little frustrated we didn't do a little bit more in the second half."I think we lost our shape at times in the second half and we ended up just doing things that didn't look like they had any shape or direction, that's something we have to stamp out."
BBC News
17-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Walder takes up Exeter Chiefs coaching role
Exeter Chiefs have appointed England Under-20s attack coach Dave Walder as an assistant to the club's coaching 46-year-old former Newcastle Falcons boss has been coaching the club's backs in recent weeks following the suspension of previous backs and attack coach Ali and head coach Rob Hunter were stood down from their roles in the wake of Exeter's club-record 79-17 loss at Gloucester last month. The pair have both since left the club, with Hepher ending his 16-year spell at Sandy Park on this week, director of rugby Rob Baxter refused to comment on whether Walder was helping the side, despite a photo on the club's social media showing him at a training session."I'm really excited to have the opportunity to come down to the Chiefs to work with a really talented group of players as well as a young, dynamic coaching group," Walder told the club website., external"I can't wait to get started; I'm looking forward to working with this squad. "It's obviously been a really tough year for them results-wise, but the green shoots of growth are there, so I'm excited to work with the group moving forward." Walder has also spent time as Bristol's backs and skills coach and joins Exeter as the club comes to the end of their worst season in the top have won just four Premiership games all season and are guaranteed to finish second from will be part of the Exeter coaching team for Sunday's trip to Harlequins."I've known Dave a long time, and I really appreciate the work he put in for a lengthy period at Newcastle," Baxter said."I thought he did a fantastic job there with relatively limited resources. He always brought out the best in the group that he had working with him."More recently, he's been working with some of our England Under-20 players, and those guys have only had positive things to say about him."It's fantastic for us to have someone of his experience and capabilities joining us. "Hopefully he'll take us forward with our attacking game and how we want our backs to play. With him coming on board, we're really looking forward to getting on with the remainder of the season."
BBC News
14-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Exeter boss Baxter tight-lipped on Walder links
Exeter director of rugby Rob Baxter has refused to confirm whether former Newcastle and Bristol coach Dave Walder has joined the club.A photo appearing to show Walder as part of a huddle with the Exeter team was posted on the club's Instagram account, external on has been strongly linked with taking over from Ali Hepher as the club's backs and attacks coachLong-serving Hepher - Baxter's first coaching appointment in 2009 - was demoted from head coach to backs coach in March and is due to take up a role helping transition academy players into the senior he was suspended last month in the wake of the club's record 79-17 loss at Gloucester, which saw newly appointed head coach Rob Hunter leave Sandy has taken control of day-to-day coaching alongside defence coach Haydn Thomas and skills coach Ricky Pellow."He wasn't at the game at the weekend," Baxter told BBC Sport when asked about Walder."Right here and now we're just getting on with things with the coaching group we've got."Things will progress once all those decisions have been made, which are outside of my remit."I'm not involved in what's happening now around what's happening around staffing." As well as a new backs coach, Exeter are also expected to appoint a new forwards specialist following Hunter's departure. The quartet of Baxter, Hunter, Hepher and Pellow has been at the helm for all of Exeter's achievements - including six consecutive Premiership finals, of which they won two, and a victory in the 2020 European Champions Cup. But the Chiefs have struggled to match the form of the final half of the 2010s in the past few seasons, finishing seventh in the last three campaign has been the worst in the club's top-flight history - they will finish ninth in the 10-team Premiership and have won just four league games. "We're really trying to focus on what will make us a stronger team day by day, week by week, going forward," Baxter added."Our biggest challenge is becoming as strong a team as we can first and everything else will come secondary to that. That's what I'm focusing on now."I'm focusing on the qualities that will make us a stronger team and I'm keeping it that simple."Because the foundation for us to be successful is how good any 15 players are at any one time on the field together - and that's the bit I'm really focusing on, keeping it that simple."
The Guardian
07-05-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
Inside the Exeter meltdown: Rowe's revival plan not for the faint-hearted
H ow swiftly the sporting wheel can turn. Less than five years ago Exeter were the Double-winning darlings of English club rugby, their fairytale rise ranking alongside Brian Clough's Nottingham Forest, Sir Alex Ferguson's Aberdeen and Wimbledon's Crazy Gang as the most romantic success stories in British team sport. And now? Second bottom of the Premiership table, 79 points conceded at Gloucester last time out, coaches being summarily jettisoned, the chairman storming into the dressing room. The one thing everyone in Devon can agree on is that the season's end cannot come quickly enough. In common with every English club, times have also been tough off the field. Exeter's conference and banqueting operation was seriously affected when Covid struck. The new hotel at Sandy Park, originally meant to supply the rugby club with another profitable income stream, is now predominantly owned by Tony Rowe, the chair and chief executive. There has been increasing local disquiet about everything from results to ticket prices and the club's future. It all adds extra resonance to this Sunday's penultimate home league fixture against this year's Champions Cup finalists, Northampton. Any repeat of the Kingsholm calamity will invite further scrutiny given Chiefs have now officially had three different head coaches – Ali Hepher, Rob Hunter and now the returning Rob Baxter – in as many months. The blueprint for next season is for the former England fly-half Dave Walder to work with Baxter, supported by current assistant coaches Haydn Thomas, Ross McMillan and Ricky Pellow. The Kingsholm scoreboard records the shocking depths of Exeter's decline since their Double-winning 2020 apogee. Photograph: Simon King/ProSports/Shutterstock Rowe's view is that a revival will duly follow. 'There's no doubt that Rob is a very good coach. When he brought the lads up from the Championship they'd have walked on broken glass for him.' He has specifically told Baxter to concentrate on the team, rather than the wider remit the pair had previously agreed. 'I need to take some of the responsibility. After we won the Double, I said I'd like him to step back a little bit and oversee everything. The problem is it hasn't really worked. I've said to Rob: 'You've got to go back to the coalface, mate.' I don't think Rob has been close enough to the lads.' Ali Hepher is one of two Exeter coaches who have been stood down by Tony Rowe. Photograph: Bob Bradford/CameraSport/Getty Images The club is certainly desperate to leave behind the Gloucester debacle, though Rowe is keen to clarify that his finger-wagging post-match address to the players, captured on live television, was not quite the furious rant it seemed. 'I just said to them: 'I am absolutely embarrassed, guys. And I hope you all are when you pick up your wages next week. A lot of people have bust their arse over the last four years to keep this club alive so be embarrassed.' And then I walked out.' I didn't give them a bollocking.' The repercussions, though, were brutal. The next day the experienced Hunter and Hepher were suspended, with Hunter's permanent departure confirmed last Friday. Insiders described the way the cull was handled as 'eye-opening' and at least one of the pair is understood to have 'very strong feelings' about what took place. The Guardian also understands that the players were enjoying the training ground vibe during Hunter's brief spell as nominal head coach. This summer, though, will not be for the faint-hearted. 'Rob and I have chatted and I don't think the guys are being challenged as they could be,' says Rowe. 'Rob will change that. I know the way Rob coaches. He will set them very high standards I don't think they've been set. He's quite a taskmaster.' Maybe so but the wider reality is that Exeter, as with so many clubs, have encountered a perfect storm. The financial implications of Covid forced them to release almost all their Double-winning players, leaving behind a collection of promising but callow youngsters in key positions. Others have more cash and stronger squads. Rowe also now concedes Baxter will have to rectify one or two strategic errors. 'He wants to get the club back up where it should be and not make the same mistakes we've made before. We didn't quite have a succession plan, did we? Once we had a clearout and we looked in the cupboard, it was bare.' In their heyday the Chiefs were fitter and better drilled than most teams and their powerful driving maul was unstoppable from close range. That has all changed courtesy of a 2021 law tweak around pre-latching and the introduction of goalline drop-outs, which allow hard-pressed defending teams more respite. But as a revitalised Gloucester have shown this season, it is possible to bounce back rapidly with a smart tactical rethink and some fresh coaching input. Rowe, now 76, is not about to walk away – 'I'm nowhere near that' – though he will miss this weekend's match because he is flying to China to compete in a 15,000km endurance car rally from Beijing to Paris. He is hopeful the club will break even next season. Exeter's director of rugby Rob Baxter will return to frontline coaching duties in the wake of the cull at Sandy Park. Photograph: Bob Bradford/CameraSport/Getty Images 'Commercially, which is my part of the ship, I was a bit concerned. But we'll finish this season having had more people through the gates than we've had in the last five years. We're still not back in profit but that's because of outside factors we're still grappling with. 'I've not got donor fatigue. Some supporters are fickle but we've got some great signings and good experience coming in. I think we've got a more talented bunch of lads now than we had back in 2014-15 when we were building the last team. We just need to get the right coaching skills around them and move forward.'
