EXETER Chiefs coach Rob Baxter has defended the tactics they used to beat Bristol in the first leg of the Championship final after fresh media criticism.

A series of commentators have criticised some of the decisions skipper Tommy Hayes made on the pitch, including former England coach Brian Ashton in a national newspaper over the weekend.

The general consensus is that Exeter should have taken more kicks at goal from the penalties they won rather than opting to go for the corner.

But the Sandy Park chief believes his side were able to build some pressure on Bristol last Wednesday by keeping the ball deep in the opposition's territory.

That saw them win more penalties as they went on to win 9-6, taking a slim lead to the Memorial Ground for this Wednesday's second leg.

Head coach Baxter said there were no assurances that if they'd taken a kick at goal they would have got back into Bristol territory to force another one.

He said: "I know people have talked about why we didn't take kicks at goal and bits and pieces, but I don't know one person who can guarantee that when you take a kick at goal and receive the kick-off you're then going to receive your next penalty attempt five minutes later.

"What happens if you kick your penalty, drop the kick-off and they score a try?

"Some people's take on how you build pressure or when you take penalty kicks is completely different to mine.

"Of the decisions when we went to the corner there was probably one where we definitely should have kicked to the posts because the momentum of the game was dictating we should do that.

"Other than that, I think we kept the ball in the opposition territory, we went for scores and we did a degree of wearing them down at the time.

"All those things are part of winning games of rugby.

"I think people need to remember we won a game of rugby on Wednesday night.

"We went out there with tactics to win a game of rugby and we won.

"We'll take tactics out at Bristol to win the game and, as long as we win, we'll have performed exceptionally well.

"If we lose by two points (on aggregate) everyone will turn around and say 'why didn't Exeter kick any more penalties', but you never know if you're going to get another penalty if you don't play.

"We went out and played and we earned penalties, that's the key and what we have to do."

Baxter and his coaching team have been watching the footage of Wednesday's game at Sandy Park closely — they have five different angles — to look for anything that could give them the edge in two days' time.

But he knows there is no substitute for hard graft and will make sure his players are prepared to put their bodies on the line again.

"Let's face facts, Bristol will have ripped that game to pieces and so have we," he said.

"We'll look for anything we can find that will give us an edge.

"I've already said to the players, it's not clever things that's going to win us the game, it will be hard work and endeavour, a desire to get off the floor and smash ourselves into contact.

"We did that on Wednesday, that's what will win us the game.

"Hopefully we can take something out of the video that will give us a bit of an edge, but you only gain an edge if you're right on top of your game."