Exeter ready to start 'run of wins' - Baxter

Exeter's start to the season is their worst under Rob Baxter's 15-year spell in charge at Sandy Park

Exeter Chiefs boss Rob Baxter believes his side are ready to go on a run of good results.

The Chiefs have had a tough start to the season, losing successive away games to champions Northampton and league leaders Saracens.

They began with an error-strewn last-minute loss at Sandy Park to Leicester and their three successive defeats marks their worst-ever start to a Premiership season.

"I'm not overly worried by this weekend's result," Baxter said, as Exeter host Bristol Bears on Sunday as they aim to avoid a fourth-successive league defeat.

"I know that might sound strange - I'd love us to win and we're doing everything we can to win - but if we lose it creates a remarkable opportunity to see what the club's about, what the players are about and what we want to do.

"I think we're a win away from potentially going on a bit of a run of wins, that's what it feels like to me.

"That's in itself is quite exciting, but it's getting us to get that first win and dealing with that bit of pressure and getting that relief and a bit of weight off our shoulders."

Tommy Reffell's late try earned Leicester an unlikely win at Exeter last month

Baxter was keen to play down the seriousness of his side's poor start, pointing out Exeter did not get a bonus point at Northampton last term and lost by a bigger margin at Saracens than they did last week in falling 29-14.

But is was the manner of their loss at home Leicester last month, which Baxter described as 'baffling', that has left questions around the opening four weeks of the season.

"We should have controlled the end of that game," he said.

"But I can show you clips of the game where there's a guy with his hand in touch carrying the ball in that period at the last stages of that game that gets missed.

"If the referee blows his whistle because the touch judge sees that or the referee sees it, we'd be sitting here on five points now having gone through two of probably our toughest away games - having picked up a point that we didn't pick up last year.

"We'd actually be ahead of the curve from where we were last year - and people thought we were pretty good last year.

"That's one way of looking at it, the other way of looking at it is that we haven't actually won a game yet.

"That's the truth, and now we're going against a Bristol team that have found some real form and are playing very well.

"The reality is if we don't win then that's another home game that we won last year that we won't have won, and I can understand people going 'now we're behind the curve' and by that stage we probably would be."