Bath went to the top of the Prem after beating Exeter Chiefs in a pulsating West Country derby at the Rec but they were made to fight all the way in an 11-try thriller. Exeter trailed 26-10 at the interval but rallied to lead 31-26 midway through the second half before a yellow card for scrum-half Stephen Varney eventually proved decisive. Cam Redpath, Dan du Preez, Bernard van der Linde, Ted Hill and Finn Russell scored Bath’s tries.
There was also a penalty try award with Russell converting four. The hugely impressive Immanuel Feyi-Waboso scored two tries for Exeter, with Jack Yeandle, Josh Iosefa-Scott and Varney also going over. Henry Slade converted three and Harvey Skinner added a late penalty.
Bath’s director of rugby, Johann Van Graan, was delighted with another five points. It was particularly pleasing to see Jaco Coetzee back in action. He’s been out for nearly two years and he and Will Stuart, who also returned, made a big impact.
It was a big momentum shift as we went to the corner and scored from there.” Rob Baxter, Exeter’s director of rugby, said: “I’m massively pleased with our intent and physicality as we turned up for the fight from the start. Even though we were 16 points down at the interval, I thought we were unlucky to be in that position. It was a massive step forward from last week’s disappointing effort and gives us a foundation to move on.” Bath took control as first Redpath intercepted a Skinner pass to run 50m and score before Van der Linde slipped through a gap in the visitors’ defence for an individual try.
Russell converted both to give his side a 14-0 lead at the end of the first quarter. Exeter responded thanks to the strong running of Feyi-Waboso. First he evaded a tackle from Ollie Lawrence to put the defence on the back foot and when the ball was recycled he powered past another two coverers with Varney on hand to touch down.
The hosts scored their third try when they capitalised on a favourable bounce on halfway. Van der Linde and Ewan Richards took advantage to give Du Preez the chance to force his way over from close range, but Bath bungled the kick-off so Yeandle was able to keep his side in contention with a try from a driving lineout. However, with half-time approaching, Bath exerted a period of pressure that culminated in Russell dummying his way over for the bonus-point try before converting for a 26-10 interval lead.
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