Assistant head coach Ali Hepher praised Exeter Chiefs' pack after they dominated visitors Saracens to take their side to an important win at Sandy Park.
Fly-half Gareth Steenson equalled the top-flight record of nine penalties in a league game, but it was the forwards who won most of them.
And Hepher, who signed a three-year contract extension with the Chiefs this week, said the platform laid by the forwards allowed them to implement their tactics.
Just as they did at Northampton two weeks earlier, the Chiefs opted to kick more and forced Saracens into making mistakes.
"We always changed our game plan in the past, it's the strength up front that is coming through to allow us to really dictate in these big games," said Hepher.
"We've always been tactically pretty smart, that's coming through. We've now got a platform up front – the two tightheads are doing fantastically well, all of the front row are backing them up and obviously we've got a good quality line-out.
"We're in a good place but the reality is we've got to kick on. We can see it just in front of us, it's got to make us work harder."
Exeter's win took the Sandy Park outfit back up to second place in the table, but with Northampton playing London Welsh on Sunday, the Chiefs are likely to drop back to third.
However, three league wins in a row – and six in all competitions – have put them in a strong position to challenge for honours this term.
Hepher said: "We had two home games and you've got to win your home games, and to pick up the away win at Northampton was fantastic, but it makes the next block even more important.
"We're in good shape now, we're strong up front, Rob Hunter's done a fantastic job there, and we're taking sides on, which you need to do to be at the top end of the league.
"That's a great platform for us and our game is coming from that platform."
Hepher helps Steenson with his kicking but he gave all the plaudits to the former Ireland under-20 fly-half for his accuracy.
He said: "He does a lot of the work himself, I just assist him and support him along the way. He's very easy to work with, he's got fantastic technique that's really honed, he knows his game, he understands his kicking and it's no surprise that he's knocked nine over today."
