Exeter gain Prem Cup revenge with Bath win

Prem Rugby Cup

Bath (7) 14

Tries: Cowan, Hennessey Cons: Linegar (2)

Exeter (6) 23

Tries: John, Dweba, Varney Cons: Slade Pens: Slade (2)

Exeter Chiefs gained some revenge for last year's Prem Rugby Cup final loss, with victory over Bath, at a wet and windy Recreation Ground.

With the difficult conditions, it was not until the final minutes of the first half that the first try of the game was scored - Bath's Thompson Cowan powering through to score after a break from Austin Emens with the visitors reduced to 14 men.

After the break, Exeter struggled to make their possession count, but finally scored a try through Dan John before Louis Hennessey restored Bath's lead after sloppy Chiefs' play.

But with Bath reduced to 13 men late on, close range efforts from Joseph Dweba and Stephen Varney secured the first win of the season for the Chiefs.

Exeter were first on the board through Henry Slade's penalty during a scrappy opening period in which neither team seemed able to find a rhythm.

The first real chance of the game saw the Chiefs mount successive driving mauls close to the Bath line, only for the home side's defenders to sneak in and win a free-kick.

Exeter were then reduced to 14 men; Rusi Tuima receiving a yellow card for a shoulder charge on Emens after Exeter had charged down a 22 drop-out.

Bath duly took advantage in the the following phase - Emens bursting through the Exeter line to feed Cowan, who outpaced the final defenders before sliding under the posts.

Slade then replied with his second penalty of the day to reduce the deficit to one as half-time approached.

As conditions improved at the start of the second period, the game opened up, but Exeter still struggled with ball in hand as another promising move in the Bath half was extinguished by a Ben Hammersley knock-on.

Despite their collective inexperience, Bath's well-drilled defence then repelled the Chiefs once again - a rolling maul from short range being held up despite the additional weight of a number of Exeter backs.

The home side's defence was finally breached following yet another scrum close to the Bath line - Harvey Skinner feeding John to dive over in the far corner as the home side ran out of defenders.

The see-saw contest then saw the scoreline flip again with Bath capitalising on a sloppy pass by Slade.

Debutant James Linegar was the first to react, with Hennessey ultimately sliding over the line for Bath's second.

But with Bath under enormous pressure and reduced to 13 after yellow cards for Mikey Summerfield and Scott Kirk, the Chiefs pounced.

Dweba powered his way over from a maul, leaving Varney to add the gloss to the scoreline with virtually the final play of the game.

Exeter Chiefs' Director of Rugby Rob Baxter told BBC Radio Devon:

"Ultimately, when you look at the stats, we probably should've won and we've got there in the end, which is pleasing, but we've just got to find a way of unleashing.

"We are playing within our capabilities at the moment. We've got better players, we're not seeing gain line busting carries from our forwards and that's just pace on the ball, speed on the ball, clarity in what we're doing.

"I've just got to work as hard as I can to break them in and it's going to take a bit of time, but you know, we've taken a step forward today.

"There was definitely some rustiness there. We've got options increasing - things are starting to align in our game. Our scrum looks very aligned at the moment, at times our maul did, we just didn't quite finish things off. #

"We battled away, made some mistakes, but it's actually been quite a regulation win."

Bath's Director of Rugby Johann van Graan told BBC Radio Bristol:

"Disappointed that we lost the game, but that was some fight by this team, they fought to the end, literally until the last play of the game we were in it, but sometimes that's the way sport goes.

"I thought the opportunities we had, we took – it was difficult conditions, specifically the wind and the ball being wet. We played against a very heavy pack and ultimately in the scrum they had too much for us in the end.

"That's the things we want our group to go through, I'd much rather this then send out the rest of our squad in the Prem Cup, we got exactly what we wanted. It was a squad effort."

Bath: Woods; Emens, Hennessey, Butt, Offiah; Linegar, Carr-Smith; Kirk, Spandler, Verden; Cuckson, Richards (C), Staddon, Cowan, Green.

Replacements: Pearce, Summerfield, A.Griffin, Jeanes, Ridgway, le Roux, C.Griffin, Timmins.

Yellow Card: Summerfield, Kirk.

Exeter Chiefs: Hodge; Brown-Bampoe, Hammersley, Slade, John; Skinner, Varney; Blose, Yeandle (C), Tchumbadze; Tuima, Pearson, Roots, Tshiunza, Vintcent.

Replacements: Dweba, Goodrick-Clarke, Iosefa-Scott, Zambonin, James, Chapman, Coen, Lilley.

Yellow Card: Tuima.

Referee: Craig Maxwell-Keys