Pellow praises his Braves

By Mark Stevens

Ricky Pellow praised the fighting spirit of his Exeter Braves as they recorded a notable 32-27 victory over Bath in their latest Aviva Premiership A League game on Monday night.

With just a minute remaining at the Recreation Ground, the visiting Braves looked as though they were heading for a share of the spoils after home centre Tom Heathcote had landed a decisive penalty just inside the Exeter half.

The Braves, though, had other ideas and having won the ball back through some determined work by the forwards, they preceded to craft a wonderful opening for No.8 Kai Horstmann to claim his second - and Exeter's fourth try - with just seconds of the pulsating encounter remaining.

It was - according to Pellow - a well earned scalp, especially considering the home side had fielded a clutch of proven Premiership stars such as Heathcote, Tom Biggs, Micky Young, Carl Fearns and Welsh international Gavin Henson.

"It's not until we sat down afterwards that we realised just how big a win this was for us," said Pellow. "When you look at the result and the team that Bath fielded, you have to give massive credit to our guys for the way they stood up and performed on the night. Going to Bath is never an easy fixture, so to come away with the win - and the bonus point as well - was a tremendous effort on our part.

"I thought our character; the way we attacked the game and our fighting spirit, especially right at the end, were key features for us. We could have easily shut up shop and claimed the draw when they got their late penalty, but the guys were hungry for more and they showed their desire and determination by doing what they did right at the end.

"As coaches we were really pleased with the performance and I think a few of the guys have again pressed their claims with some big performances. I thought the senior guys all played their part, but so did the younger guys like Jack Innard, Tom Holdsworth and Stu Townsend. You talk of those last three names, these guys are still very young in terms of their senior rugby careers, yet they were coming up against experienced international players and they didn't freeze.

"For all those guys, playing in games like this will certainly help their future development. It's a massive learning curve for them to come in and play in these A games, but they are all coping with it really well."

As well as Horstmann's try double, Tongan international winger Fetu'u Vainikolo pressed his first team claims with a brace of his own; whilst skipper and fly-half Ceri Sweeney weighed in with Exeter's remaining points.

In reply, Tom Biggs and Saeed Agboke claimed tries for the home side; whilst Heathcote was on song with four penalties in total.