Exeter boss Rob Baxter said he was impressed by his side’s second-half response as they earned a 33-33 Prem Rugby draw at Northampton.
The Chiefs conceded five first-half tries – including four in 12 minutes as they trailed 33-7 at the break.
But four unanswered tries in the second half secured a memorable fightback for a side that finished second-from-bottom last season.
“I’m relieved with the response of the players in the second half because we had nowhere to go at half-time,” Baxter told BBC Radio Devon.
“We could roll over or stand up and fight, and fair play the lads stood up and fought.
“To me that’s obviously a good indicator of where we are, a good indicator of our conditioning levels and probably some squad strength.
“But at the same time on the first half we’ve still got a lot of work to do.”
Exeter began last season with a last-minute loss to Leicester Tigers – a result which set the tone for their worst ever campaign in the top flight.
It looked as though they might have a similarly bad day at Franklin’s Gardens, but the turnaround has given Exeter hope that they can avoid a repeat of last season.
Baxter says he had a frank conversation with his players at half-time before they staged their comeback.
“I kind of just reminded them of all the things we talked about all through the season,” he said.
“Right from day one we said the DNA of the team was going to be ‘if you can’t win you draw’, and if you can’t draw you lose by a point, and I said it doesn’t look like that’s our DNA at the moment.
“I actually said to them ‘there’s only one thing I promised people who had asked me about this season, and it’s just that we’ll be a more competitive team than we were last year’.
“That was the only thing I promised people, and we’re not looking like a more competitive team right here and now, so let’s make sure we have a half of rugby where we look like a much more competitive team.
“We’ve ended up getting some very valuable away points, which ultimately I don’t think we got any, we didn’t get a draw away from home last season.
“So I suppose we’re in the plus column a little bit already.”
