Rob Baxter: Exeter boss backs youngsters after Wasps heartbreak

Lewis Pearson's try on his first Premiership start helped Exeter build up an 18-point lead, which they relinquished

Exeter boss Rob Baxter says he wants his young players to use the pain of their late 27-26 defeat by Wasps to spur them on in their careers.

Exeter were missing 17 frontline players, either through injury or international call-ups.

The Chiefs led until Paolo Odogwu's stoppage-time try, which has seen them drop to seventh in the Premiership.

"The boys have done exceptionally well, they've made mistakes and some of them are frustrating," Baxter said.

"But young guys will make mistakes and when you're fighting you'll make mistakes.

"I want to focus on just how hard they've worked and how hard they've fought.

"The definition of a beaten man is someone who stops fighting, and we never stopped fighting, so we're not a beaten team yet," he told BBC Radio Devon.

Welsh youngster Dafydd Jenkins made a first start in the second-row while Lewis Pearson was a late call-up at flanker for his first league start, with young players such as Patrick Schickerling, Jack Innard, Josh Hodge and Sam Maunder all starting the game.

Baxter hopes the memory of Saturday's loss can inspire the next generation of Exeter players in the same way that a late loss at Wasps in the European Champions Cup in 2016 started their journey towards the 2020 European title.

"We lost a Heineken Cup quarter-final away at Wasps with a fully-loaded Exeter Chiefs team against a fully-loaded Wasps side and we lost with a conversion, the last kick of the game.

"That drove us, that was one of the factors that drove us on to winning the Heineken Cup.

"The pain from that and wanting to be there again, and wanting to prove things right, is one of those big factors.

"We've got to try and use today with this group of players as something which drives them on to new and better things."