mens
Gallagher-Prime Minister
Bristol Bears director of rugby Pat Lam admitted he was “really proud” of his team after they endured terrible conditions and a second-half fightback Exeter Chiefs triumph 20-7 at Ashton Gate.
Gabriel Ibitoye crossed in the 27th minute to give the home side the lead and James Williams added the extras followed by a penalty on the half hour mark to make it 10-0.
Greg Fisilau’s try, converted by Henry Slade, then brought Exeter back into contention, but a second Williams penalty gave Bristol some breathing room before Luka Ivanishvili struck in the dying seconds to seal victory.
Heavy rain and strong winds made life difficult for both sides, with Lam saying: “These kinds of conditions really challenge your technique and mindset.
“And you can’t go into these games without the right mindset because you have to fight physically, but that physicality has to be technically accurate, otherwise you give away territory and possession and lose matches.
“We allowed them to get back into the game by dropping a few balls, but our message was ‘just be accurate’.
“A lot of what we saw today was a result of the work we did in pre-season, it wasn’t a day to throw the ball around.”
Exeter director of rugby Rob Baxter gently questioned his side’s decision not to go for the posts towards the end to equalise, instead denying two kickable penalties inside the 22.
“Towards the end we got back into it and had a chance to get something,” he said.
“And our weakest maul of the game was probably at the end, where we probably needed a killer maul. We weren’t as good as we should have been, we had to play away from it and then we lost the ball and that last period saw us make mistakes that you just can’t afford in these conditions.
“I think the difference between the two teams was that we just made more mistakes than Bristol during the game and tactically Bristol were potentially a bit smarter.”
Baxter also felt aggrieved by Bristol’s first try from Ibitoye, when it came from a penalty awarded to Ethan Roots.
He said: “I think we were unlucky with the first attempt because I don’t think Ethan did anything.
“He leaves the maul after the referee tells him to. Bristol make a mistake at the back, he picks the ball up and suddenly we’re penalised.”