Exeter Chiefs were 'too emotional' yesterday after internal tragedy in camp

Immanuel Feyi-Waboso's early try for Exeter was quickly countered by two tries in five minutes from Ollie Hassell-Collins and Jack van Poortvliet.

Exeter faced a setback when Feyi-Waboso was sin-binned just before halftime. Shortly after the break, Tommy Reffell and Mike Brown added to Leicester's tally with two more tries.

Although Dan Frost scored for Exeter, and Jasper Wiese was sent off for a dangerous tackle, Ross Vintcent's late try wasn't enough to turn the tide.

Baxter said: “We turned up here very emotionally driven, threw a lot of energy into the early part of the game, but did we really have a cast-iron direction and accuracy? No.

“We threw a lot of emotion into the game and with things like what happened with [the death of] Jack Yeandle’s dad this morning, and the players knowing about that, it really meant a lot to them to try and put a big performance on the field.

“I just said to them ‘I know you really care about what’s happened, I know you’ve really been emotive about it, I know this is really hurting you, but let’s make sure we learn this lesson’.

“One of the best ways for me to describe our performance was at one stage it looked like we had 15 guys on the field all trying to win the game on their own.”

Owens said: Some people will be surprised at this one to start off. His misfortune was perhaps to be leading England during a difficult time, but he always gave everything for the cause, encouraging others to follow suit, and he was a nice guy off the pitch."

Owens said: "He was not only a great rugby player but also a great leader and a great man. Whenever I came across him on the field, he impressed me."

Owens said: "He’s right up on any list of rugby’s greatest players.

"Maybe he will be at the top for many people.

"New Zealand won something like nine out of every 10 games in which he led them, but the mark of Richie McCaw was how he conducted himself when the All Blacks lost."

Owens said: "I’m classing this as a joint-ticket as whenever I seemed to ref Ireland in their day O’Driscoll was captain and O’Connell was vice-skipper.

"O’Driscoll actually used to tell me if there were issues with the forwards then I should chat to O’Connell.

I found them excellent to deal with."

Owens said: "My choice as the best skipper I encountered may raise a few eyebrows, but what a captain Dusautoir was. He unfailingly put his body on the line throughout his career — recall the 38 tackles he made when France knocked the All Blacks out of the 2007 World Cup — led by example and understood the game very well."