The champions needed something to lift them after their Christmas hangover. This might not have been how they chose it, but it is safe to say the desired effect was achieved, a try by Arthur Green in the last minute snatching victory from the jaws of, if not defeat, one of the more dispiriting draws inflicted on a home team.
It was Bath’s fifth try, but their first points since the 20th minute, after they had blown Exeter away with the reaction to their defeat here last Saturday by Northampton. But their four tries in that opening quarter were scored with the Chiefs down to 14 after Campbell Ridl was shown a 20-minute red card in the third minute for his aerial challenge on Henry Arundell.
Such is the competitiveness of this league, no side is safe with a commanding early lead. Exeter scored four unanswered tries themselves, once restored to 15, precipitating Bath’s final assault on their line at the end of which, 38 phases later, Green burrowed his way over. Job done, but, boy, the hard way.
“It’s great for the Premiership,” said Johann van Graan, Bath’s head coach. “I absolutely love coaching in this league because it’s so competitive.”
Quick GuideBath 33-26 Exeter teams and scorersShow
Bath Carreras; Arundell, Lawrence, Redpath, Muir (Hennessey 57); Russell, Spencer (c); Obano (Kirk 57), Dunn (Tuipulotu 57), Sela (Du Toit 57), Opoku-Gyamfi (Roux 48), Molony, Hill, Pepper (Underhill 57), Barbeary (Green 57).
Tries Obano, Barbeary, Carreras, Lawrence, Green. Cons Russell 4.
Exeter Woodburn; Feyi-Waboso, Slade, Rigg, Ridl (John 24); Skinner, Varney (Chapman 48); Sio (Goodrick-Clarke 55), Dweba (Yeandle 55), Tchumbadze (Roots 55), Jenkins (c), Zambonin (Tuima 67), Hooper, Roots (James 63), Fisilau.
Tries Dweba, Woodburn, Fisilau, Feyi-Waboso. Cons Slade 3.
Referee Luke Pearce
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How unlikely the need for such heroics had seemed an hour and a half earlier. Third in the table the Chiefs may have been, but any side would have suffered at the hands of Bath on their own turf the week after that humbling by something approximating to a Northampton second XV. The home team duly claimed the season’s fastest bonus point, four tries notched up in the first 20 minutes.
No one was calling last week’s Bath team less than full strength. And yet in came players of the calibre of Santiago Carreras, Ted Hill, Guy Pepper and Cameron Redpath – the type other clubs could build a team around. Then there were a couple of youngsters. Vilikesa Sela and Enoch Opoku-Gyamfi are not be on many people’s radars, the latter still a teenager – a 150kg teenager – but remember the names.
Greg Fisilau continues Exeter’s fightback with their third try. Photograph: Simon King/ProSports/Shutterstock
Beno Obano was one luminary who did play last week, but he, like pretty much everyone in the Bath pack burst into this game as if he meant it. His was the first try, a pick-and-charge too many for Exeter, before Alfie Barbeary – another restored to the team – did much the same for the second.
Quick GuidePrem roundup: Northampton thump Quins but Dingwall injuredShow
Northampton dazzled on their return to the Prem summit but Saturday’ 66-21 demolition of Harlequins was overshadowed by the England centre Fraser Dingwall being stretchered off with a head injury. Saints’ high-speed attack conjured 10 tries with Alex Coles plundering a hat-trick, Danilo Fischetti and Edoardo Todaro crossing twice each and Alex Mitchell, Tommy Freeman and Fin Smith also touching down.
Victory was sealed despite the loss of Dingwall in the 39th minute after the Northampton captain’s head was caught on the wrong side while tackling Kieran Treadwell. Saints teammate Tom Pearson alerted referee Sara Cox to the severity of the situation, shouting “he’s out, he’s out”, and after several minutes of treatment Dingwall was carried off, although he gave a thumbs-up as he left.
Quins at least showed fight – Northampton repeatedly being held up over the line was evidence of that – but they were unable to compete with the hosts’ speed of thought and execution as they fell to a record defeat in the fixture, their fourth consecutive Prem loss locking them in eighth place.
Newcastle clinched their first Prem win of the season with a 25-19 victory over Gloucester on Friday night. George McGuigan and Tom Christie went over for the hosts at Kingston Park either side of yellow cards for Jamie Hodgson and Arthur Clark before Ollie Thorley replied for Gloucester. Brett Connon’s penalty gave Newcastle a 15-5 lead at the break and Simón Benítez Cruz grounded shortly after the restart to extend their advantage further. Thorley was shown red for Gloucester before Connon kicked another penalty and Newcastle withstood a late fightback.
Pat Lam gave his Bristol players the target of being top of the league at the end of the evening and they delivered with a 19-17 win over Sale at Ashton Gate. Bristol were never ahead until the 73rd minute with a yellow card in the 70th minute for the Sale centre Rekeiti Ma’asi White proving decisive. Kalaveti Ravouvou, Joe Owen and Matias Moroni were on Bristol’s try-scoring sheet with Tom Jordan and James Williams each kicking a conversion. Lam, the Bristol director of rugby, said: “We set out that was effectively to be a final and that we needed to win it to be top of the table as Sale are our bogey team and always seem to be up for this fixture.” PA Media
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Carreras finished in superb style after Louie Hennessey’s break for the third. Hennessey was on for Arundell, who was being checked after that aerial challenge by Ridl. The Chiefs winger had scored his first Premiership try last Sunday, but this time overexuberance cost him any further involvement. Bath had the bonus point before the 20 minutes of his red card was up, Ben Spencer putting Ollie Lawrence over after an attacking lineout.
No sooner, though, had Exeter been returned to a full complement than they were awarded their first penalty – and another six followed without reply. How the momentum can shift in these contests. The Chiefs sent a few of them to the corner, one by Henry Slade to five metres, and from two they secured a foothold with tries in the last 10 minutes of the half, by Joseph Dweba and Olly Woodburn. Slade converted both, one from each touchline.
Bath thought they had wrestled back control when Spencer was in support after Redpath’s break in the 48th minute, but Opoku-Gyamfi, who was hobbling at the time, had blocked a defender. It was not until the final quarter that the game burst back into life and it was Exeter who forced the issue.
They have a number of exciting young talents themselves, none more so than Greg Fisilau. He scored the Chiefs’ third try with less than a quarter of an hour to go. Then it was the No 8’s break five minutes later that set up the attack from which came the first of their two bonus points. Immanuel Feyi-Waboso needs less introduction. The whole Rec knew the outcome when he found himself out wide with one to beat at the end of a sustained attack. Slade’s conversion, from the touchline again, drew the teams level.
And so the stage was set. “It’s like when you watch The Great Escape,” said Rob Baxter, Exeter’s director of rugby. “I’m going to have to watch the game tonight, and I know Steve McQueen isn’t going to get over the barbed wire, but I’ll still have to watch it.
“I’ll watch those pick-and-goes and think someone’s going to drop it. I know they don’t, but it was compelling viewing.”