Bristol defy stormy weather to see off Exeter and move third in Prem table

Bristol Bears moved into third place in the Prem table with a hard-fought 20-7 win over Exeter Chiefs in appalling conditions at Ashton Gate.

It was their fifth successive league victory over Rob Baxter’s men after an old-style-rugby war of attrition in heavy rain and strong winds.

Exeter had the better of the opening exchanges and enjoyed a period of pressure on the home line. However, hanging on to the slippery ball in the tackle was proving a major problem for the visitors and several potential scoring opportunities were squandered.

Even though they had their own difficulties, Bristol’s handling was much better and it enabled them to put a lot of pressure on the Exeter line, but the Chiefs’ defence held firm.

It looked likely that the interval might be reached with the game still scoreless until a long pass by England scrum-half Harry Randall found Gabriel Ibitoye in space on the left wing, and he made light of the attempted cover tackles to cross in the corner and give the Bears a 5-0 lead.

Centre James Williams slotted an excellent touchline conversion and he was also on target with a 35-metre penalty three minutes later, when Olly Woodburn was penalised for not releasing in the tackle after catching one of many high balls he had to deal with in the first half, to increase the Bears’ lead to double figures.

The advantage maybe should have grown even further when they were awarded another kickable penalty, but over-exuberance appeared to get the better of Randall when he took a quick tap, and the move eventually petered out.

Both sides suffered injury blows before the interval, with Chiefs’ Tom Hooper and Bears’ Steve Luatua forced off.

One aspect of the Chiefs’ game that was working very well was their scrum, with Georgia international loose-head prop Nika Abuladze playing his first game for the Devon side in almost two years, and it gave them hope for the second period when they would have the swirling wind behind their backs.

Chiefs 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 grubber kick through the home defence, but the ball squirmed from his grasp.

Moments later, though, Chiefs kicked a penalty to the corner and Greg Fisilau was driven over in emphatic style, with Slade converting to get the Chiefs right back in the contest.

They even had chances to draw level in the last 10 minutes when they turned down two kickable penalties inside the 22, but when Bristol got their own opportunity three minutes from time, Williams was immaculate with the boot.

And when Luka Ivanishvili forced his way over moments later, the win was sealed and Chiefs were denied the losing bonus point.