Emmanuel Faye-Waboso: Exeter boss Rob Baxter praises winger after European win

Exeter boss Rob Baxter hailed the impact of Emmanuel Faye-Waboso after the Champions Cup win over Bath.

The 21-year-old England winger had a hand in two second-half tries for the Chiefs as they overcame a 12-7 half-time deficit to beat their West Country rivals 21-15 and move into the last eight.

„He's the closest replacement for Jack Nowell that we could have,” Baxter told BBC Radio Devon.

„He takes you out of nowhere and makes it better.”

Faye-Waboso moved to Exeter last season after Wasps broke through and had a breakout campaign at the club.

The former Wales youngster is keen to play for England and featured in four of his country's five Six Nations games earlier this year.

„He's still learning how to use those skills he's got, but he gets you some speed,” Baxter said.

“At least two of our tries came from the pace he had, and sometimes, he didn't deserve to have the pace.

„I think that type of thing shows his value and we have to remember that we've missed some of those types of players – Tommy Wyatt did the same earlier in the season.

„When we get them on the ball and create that little bit of speed, it makes everything else flow a lot better and we get more movement in the game.”

The win came a week after a miserable 41-5 defeat at Sale, which saw the Chiefs miss out on a return to the Premiership's top four – losing heavily at Saracens in their last league game before the Six Nations.

„Our pack of forwards stood up today,” Baxter said

„[In] We dominated the two away games but our scrum held up today and our line-out was very good.

„I thought Christ Sionza, especially in a very difficult situation to get out of the opposition line, created some problems that helped us break Bath's flow of possession.

„Sometimes you hand it over and say 'Well done guys, you stood up in the air and fought and what you were involved in was a great game of rugby'.”