Exeter subject Bristol to fourth successive Prem defeat in front of record crowd
Bristol suffered a fourth successive Gallagher Premiership defeat as Exeter toppled them 19-13 in front of a record Sandy Park crowd.
Chiefs’ new East Stand development allowed an attendance of 14,100 for the West Country derby, and Exeter kept themselves firmly in play-off contention through a workmanlike success.
First-half tries by wing Tom O’Flaherty and lock Jonny Hill, with fly-half Joe Simmonds adding one conversion, put them in control of the contest.
But a dour second period of few scoring chances burst into life during the closing minutes when Bristol substitute Henry Purdy claimed a breakaway try that Callum Sheedy converted, adding to his earlier penalty.
Exeter’s lead was suddenly threatened, but they dug deep and confirmed a seventh win of their Premiership campaign when Scotland captain Stuart Hogg scored late on, and Simmonds added the extras.
There was no way back for Bristol, and they remain in the Premiership’s bottom two having won just three of their first 11 league games, although Sheedy’s 80th-minute penalty at least gave them a losing bonus point.
Exeter centre Ollie Devoto made his first appearance for almost two months after recovering from injury, while Sam Skinner moved into the second row and Jannes Kirsten started at openside flanker.
Bristol captain Steven Luatua missed out because of a calf muscle injury, so lock Joe Joyce skippered the side, with Dan Thomas and Nathan Hughes gaining back-row starts.
The early exchanges saw both sides working hard for consistent territory and possession, before Exeter opened the scoring with a superbly-worked try after 13 minutes.
England international wing Jack Nowell played the key role, kicking cleverly into space before full-back Hogg gathered an inviting bounce and sent an unmarked O’Flaherty over.
Simmonds converted from the touchline and Bristol were rattled, which Sheedy underlined just three minutes later by sending a 30-metre penalty chance wide.
Sheedy then made amends for his miss by finding the target from just inside Exeter’s half, cutting the deficit to four points, but Bristol then suffered an injury blow when full-back Charles Piutau went off and was replaced by Purdy.
Exeter’s forwards displayed a healthy appetite, and their impressive efforts from an attacking line-out left the Bristol defensive structure disorganised.
After patiently building through the phases, a second Chiefs try arrived, with Hill breaking two tackles to touch down and open up a nine-point advantage.
Bristol failed to mount a meaningful attack during the first half, and Exeter’s only minor concern heading into the break was that they were not further in front.
Bristol boss Pat Lam made three changes early in the second period, including replacing England prop Kyle Sinckler with John Afoa, and the visitors enjoyed a sustained spell of pressure.
Exeter were in retreat mode for the first time, yet their defence held firm and scrum-half Jack Maunder’s lengthy clearance thwarted Bristol.
A scoreless third quarter meant that Bristol were still in the contest, and they threatened through centre Semi Radradra when he broke clear from his own line, but he spilled possession approaching halfway.
Exeter's style of rugby isn't expansiv… ?#EXEvBRI | Credit: @btsportrugby pic.twitter.com/b1vwkhZQxP
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) January 1, 2022
However, Bristol struck with 11 minutes left, claiming an opportunist score when Purdy intercepted Simmonds’ pass and sprinted 50 metres to score.
Sheedy’s conversion set up a tense finale, and it was Exeter who came up trumps, establishing field position from which they pounced for a decisive try.
Centre Henry Slade went close, before possession was quickly recycled and Hogg went over for Chiefs’ third try, with Simmonds’ conversion ensuring that there was no way back for Bristol.
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
26 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
26 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
26 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
26 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
26 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments