Exeter Chiefs 23 Bath Rugby 27: match report

“It was one of our better performances with ball in hand. We couldn’t go round

Exeter today so we had to go through them. They ask you more questions as a

defence coach than any other team in the Premiership, so we had to defend

all day.”

The match was in jeopardy after storm-force winds snapped the goalposts in

half at the south end of the ground at 5am. Officials spent the morning

racing to Exmouth and Crediton to get the metalwork welded together, and the

uprights were lowered into place two hours before kick-off.

Exeter made an impressive start. A great passage of play and some quick hands

resulted in a penalty at the ruck, and fly-half Gareth Steenson slotted the

kick. That lead was cancelled out three minutes later with a similar effort

for Bath by opposite number George Ford.

Bath grabbed the first try of the game just before the half-hour mark with a

piece of midfield brilliance. Ford combined with Kyle Eastmond who sent

20-year-old centre Ollie Devoto racing away, and he eluded the tackle of

full-back Luke Arscott to collect a fine individual score, with Ford

converting.

Steenson’s boot got Exeter back on the scoreboard, and the Chiefs managed to

sneak back the lead just before the break. They kicked a penalty to the

corner, and after the catch-and-drive line-out was stopped, Australian

openside flanker Ben White dived over for his fifth Premiership try of the

season, with Steenson converting for a 13-10 interval advantage.

Steenson extended Exeter’s lead with a penalty early in the second period, but

the Chiefs were hit by two tries in the space of nine minutes. Eastmond

grabbed the first after juggling with a missed pass by Ford to break the

defensive line and go in behind the posts, leaving Ford with the simplest of

conversions.

Ford then put replacement winger Abendanon away down the left and he skilfully

chipped the ball over the defence and won the race for the touchdown, before

Ford’s conversion made it 24-16.

Ian Whitten put Exeter back in it with a fine touchdown after his dummy fooled

the Bath defence, and Steenson converted to leave the Chiefs within a point.

However, Bath kept the Chiefs at bay and Ford banged over a penalty with the

last kick of the match to confirm victory and leave Exeter still searching

for their first win over Bath since 1978.

Exeter stay eighth, 10 points outside the top four, and head coach Rob Baxter

said: “I am pretty angry about it. Our energy, endeavour and desire to play

and get after games is great, but we have got to start taking a bit more

responsibility for some of the decisions we are making.

“I am getting frustrated and people have got to start stepping up. The big

picture is we are only a point behind where we were at this stage in our

best ever season, but you can hide behind the big picture sometimes, and I

want us to be higher up the league.”

Match details

Scores 3-0 Steenson pen; 3-3 Ford pen; 3-8 Devoto try; 3-10 Ford con;

6-10 Steenson pen; 11-10 White try; 13-10 Steenson con; 16-10 Steenson pen;

16-15 Eastmond try; 16-17 Ford con; 16-22 Abendanon try; 16-24 Ford con;

21-24 Whitten try; 23-24 Steenson con; 23-27 Ford pen.

Exeter L Arscott (H Slade 64), M Jess, I Whitten, P Dollman, T James, G

Steenson, D Lewis (H Thomas 62), B Moon, J Yeandle (L Cowan-Dickie 67), H

Tui, D Mumm (capt), D Welch, T Johnson, B White (D Armand 58), D Ewers (K

Horstmann 64).
Replacements not used: C Rimmer, A Brown, F Vainikolo.
Bath A Watson, H Agulla, O Devoto (G Henson 69), K Eastmond, M Banahan

(N Abendanon 52), G Ford, M Young (P Stringer 54), P James (N Catt 66),

R Batty (E Guinazu 69), D Wilson (A Perenise 47), S Hooper (capt) (D Day

62), D Attwood, M Garvey, F Louw, L Houston (A Fa’osiliva 66).
Referee: A Small (RFU).

Article source: http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/11000488.Rugby_defies_rain_soaked_pitches/

Exeter Chiefs 23 Bath Rugby 27: match report