Bath 36 Chiefs 19
Bath Rugby 36
Exeter Chiefs 19
Mark Stevens at the Recreation Ground
A bit like the Incredible Hulk, you don’t want to make Rob Baxter angry!
However, Exeter’s Director of Rugby was clearly raging after watching his Chiefs side suffer a major blow in their quest to reach this season’s play-offs in the Gallagher Premiership.
Already this season there have been some dark days on the road, Saracens and Harlequins quickly spring to mind, but this was arguably the lowest point yet as lowly Bath ended a seven-game losing streak against their Westcountry rivals to move off the foot of the table.
Exeter’s travel sickness has been a cause for concern all season, as has the lack of bonus point accrued, but this hit new heights as Johan van Graan’s side ran riot with a five-try showing.
Bath belied their lowly status to inflict a hammer blow on the Chiefs as Cameron Redpath, Beno Obano, Joe Cokanasiga, Tom Dunn and Ollie Lawrence all found their way over the line to seal only their fifth win of the campaign.
In reply, the Chiefs countered with tries from Solomone Kata, Scott Sio and Jack Yeandle, but they were rare highlights on a tough day at the office for Baxter’s side.
Having seen the younger generation of the Chiefs seal the first silverware of the season seven days earlier, the visitors arrived in the Roman City looking to get themselves firmly back in the play-off mix with just four games of the regular season remaining.
International duo Dafydd Jenkins and Henry Slade both returned to the ranks after their recent exploits in the Six Nations, whilst Dave Ewers was afforded the privilege of leading the Devonians out on his 200th Premiership and Champions Cup appearance for the club.
Likewise, Bath were buoyed by a series of returnees, including former Worcester Warriors duo Ted Hill and Lawrence, plus England international Will Stuart in the front-row.
As expected on derby day, the opening exchanges were frenetic as both packs tore into one another like two packs of wolves looking for food for the first time in weeks. As it was, nothing of real interest happened, that was until the hosts broke the deadlock on eight minutes.
Driving a line-out in field, the ball was played into the path of Redpath, who slipped off the attentions of Chiefs fly-half Harvey Skinner before racing clear of the Exeter cover to score in the corner. Spencer banged over the extras with a superb touchline conversion.
Home cheers, however, proved short-lived as the Chiefs responded almost instantaneously with a try of their own. Full-back Josh Hodge instigated their charge, plucking the ball from the air, before setting the foundations for Dan Frost, then Sam Simmonds, to position the visitors within sight of the home line. The patient approach from the Exeter eight followed, the fruits of which allowed Kata to cross for the converted score.
It was just the response the Chiefs would have craved, but their game plan suffered a double set-back as first Sam Maunder, then Kata, were both forced from the field with injuries. Kata’s blow to the head from Obano was reviewed and the Bath loosehead was sent to the sidelined for a ten-minute stint by referee Karl Dickson.
In his absence, the Chiefs made the numbers game pay, claiming their second try when, from a close-range tap penalty, they combined as one to send Aussie prop Sio under the posts for the score, again converted by the boot of Slade.
Bath could have few complaints about the score at that stage, but soon restored to 15 men they hit the Chiefs with a quick-fire double in the final five minutes of the half.
With the Chiefs conceding five needless penalties in the space of just five minutes, Bath duly made them pay as first Obano squeezed over under the shadow of the Exeter posts from a tap penalty; then Cokanasiga got it on the scoring act as he raced onto a chip in behind from Redpath to score in the right corner.
HALF TIME: BATH RUGBY 19 EXETER CHIEFS 14
Not for the first time this season, the penalty count was a real concern for the Chiefs and it got no better on the resumption as they coughed up three more inside the opening five minutes.
Under a final warning from Dickson, the visitors knew they needed to be squeaky clean as Bath looked to make hay just five metres from the Exeter line. An initial thrust from a driving line-out seemed to be held by the Chiefs, but when the hosts pushed again, this time they worked the opening for Dunn to claim the bonus point score.
The ill-discipline was killing the Chiefs, quite literally, and when Frost was shown yellow for a high hit on Orlando Bailey as he looked to ship the ball wide, Exeter’s afternoon became a whole lot harder.
It was an issue that clearly needed to be addressed, sooner rather than later. However, Bath had the bit between their teeth and roared on by a capacity crowd inside the Rec, they looked to further attack the exposed Exeter jugular.
Still with the man advantage, Bath again capitalised on another gift of a penalty from the Chiefs to set up camp deep inside the Exeter 22. Just as they did before, they used the driving line-out as the foundation from which they were able to put Lawrence in under the posts for a fifth score.
Exeter emptied their bench in a bid to inject some life into what was proving a miserable day at the office for them - and the tactic had some worth momentarily as - in a rare foray into the Bath 22 - they used a penalty of their own to create a catch-and-drive maul which, aided by a catalogue of Chiefs back, sent Yeandle over for the try.
Now, with a bonus point of their own in sight, you expected the Chiefs to kick on and ignite themselves for a potential late rally. Sadly, it did not materialise as Bath not only swallowed up all that Baxter’s men could throw at them, but then turned defence into attack.
Indeed, it could easily have been worse for the visitors as Bath countered with one attacking move that released replacement Tom de Glanville on the burst. The versatile back tore down field at a rate of knots, but with the try line beckoning for Matt Gallagher, the former’s pass to the left was spurned with a certain score on the card.
It mattered not for the home side, who edged further in front just moments later when another soft penalty award allowed replacement Piers Francis to land a simple kick.
The Chiefs huffed and puffed in a late rally, which saw home hooker Niall Annett yellow carded for killing the ball, but first Hodge was bundled into touch, then Ewers was held up on the line by a brilliant, last-gasp tackle from Hill.
It kind of summed up the situation for the Chiefs, who know they can ill afford any slip-ups between now and the end of the season on all fronts.
Bath: M Gallagher; J Cokanasiga, O Lawrence, C Redpath, R McConnochie (T de Glanville 65); O Bailey (P Francis 48), B Spencer (capt, L Schreuder 72); B Obano (L Boyce 75), T Dunn (N Annett 68), W Stuart (D Rae 68); J McNally (F Lee-Warner 65), GJ Van Velze; T Hill, C Cloete (L Boyce 22-32, J Bayliss 71), M Reid.
Tries - Redpath, Obano, Cokanasiga, Dunn, Lawrence; Conversions - Spencer (4); Penalty - Francis
Yellow Cards: Obano, Annett
Chiefs: J Hodge (J Yeandle 50-59); J Nowell (capt), H Slade, S Kata (O Devoto 21), O Woodburn (H Skinner 68); H Skinner (J Simmonds 59), S Maunder (J Maunder 19); S Sio (A Hepburn 55), D Frost, M Street (P Schickerling 59); J Dunne (M Williams 55), D Jenkins; D Ewers (A Davis 56), C Tshiunza, S Simmonds (D Ewers 69).
Tries - Kata, Sio, Yeandle; Conversions - Slade (2)
Yellow Card: Frost
Referee: K Dickson
Attendance: 14,509