mens
Gallagher-Prime Minister
Bristol The Bears moved up to third in the Prem standings with a hard-fought 20-7 win Exeter Chiefs in appalling conditions at Ashton Gate.
It was their fifth straight league win over Rob Baxter’s men after old style rugby and exhaustion in heavy rain and strong wind.
Exeter had the better of the opening exchanges and enjoyed a period of pressure on the home line. However, holding onto the slippery ball in the match was a major problem for the visitors and several potential scoring opportunities were missed.
Although they had their difficulties, Bristol performed much better and this allowed them to put a lot of pressure on the Exeter line, but the Chiefs defense held firm.
It looked likely that interval could be reached with the game still goalless until the long pass England Scrum-half Harry Randall found Gabriel Ibitoye in space on the left wing and he parried the Patches’ attempts to get in the corner to give the Bears a 5-0 lead.
Center James Williams made a fine touchline conversion and was on target with a 35-metre penalty three minutes later when Olly Woodburn was booked for a non-kicking tackle after latching on to one of the many high balls he had to deal with in the first half to extend the Bears’ lead to double figures.
The advantage should perhaps have grown further when they were awarded another kickable penalty, but the exuberance seemed to get the better of Randall as he made a quick strike and the move eventually fizzled out.
Both sides suffered injuries before the break, with Chiefs’ Tom Hooper and Bears’ Steve Luatua both forced off.
One aspect of the Chiefs’ game that worked very well was their scrum, with Georgia international loose prop Nika Abuladze played his first game for the Devon side in nearly two years, and it gave them hope for a second term with the wind at their backs.
Bosses they had a chance to break their duck nine minutes into the second half when Henry Slade tried to get on the end of Sam Wolstenholme’s cross over the home defence, but the ball slipped out of his hands.
Moments later, however, Chiefs were awarded a penalty in the corner and Greg Fisilau was headed over in emphatic style, with Slade converting to put Chiefs back in the contest.
They even had chances to equalize in the last 10 minutes when they had two penalties saved in the 22, but when Bristol got their chance three minutes from time, Williams was flawless with the boot.
And when Luka Ivanishvili forced his way through moments later, the win was sealed and the Chiefs were denied a lost bonus point.
