Rob Baxter: Exeter Chiefs boss says Premiership Rugby Cup exit 'a missed opportunity'

Exeter's players could not overturn a 17-point deficit at half time

Exeter director of rugby Rob Baxter couldn't hide his frustration after their Premiership Rugby Cup semi-final defeat at Gloucester.

Chiefs conceded 17 first-half points before rallying after the break to lose 17-14 at Kingsholm, relinquishing their grip on the trophy they won last year.

An Exeter side made up of a mixture of young players and more experienced heads lost for a third successive game.

"It's definitely a missed opportunity," Baxter told BBC Radio Devon.

"When you fight back and you've still got that time on the clock and you've literally done nothing in the first half - we didn't even score in the first half - that's got to be a missed opportunity.

"For me that's the frustration. If we'd have lost like we'd done today and we'd have turned up and I'd thought we were playing anywhere near our potential, I don't talk like that.

"This is the first time this season where I think we've lost a tight game and 100% it's felt like we've missed the opportunity."

Baxter says he pulled few punches in his half-time team talk which had an effect as his side improved after the break.

"There's clearly some guys that weren't right - I don't want to name names and when I did at half-time it was Player X, why are you doing this? Player Y, why are you doing that? Player Z, you need to do this.

"I think we're a comfortable enough group to be able to do that. I certainly won't do that publicly, but I just think there was enough individual stuff going on that just disrupted us a team way too much.

"How long is it since we've given away three penalties in the first three set-pieces? It's a long time since that's happened.

"I'm frustrated because we're better than that and some of the players that played today are better than that as well."