Stuart Hogg inspires Exeter to keep play-off hopes alive
A Stuart Hogg-inspired Exeter Chiefs kept their Premiership play-off hopes alive with a thrilling 42-22 victory over bottom side Bath.
The Chiefs trailed 22-7 two minutes before the interval to a Bath side looking anything but a basement club, and hopes of making a seventh success Premiership final appeared to be slipping away.
However, Exeter showed the character and determination that has been such a bedrock of their success in years gone by to score 35 points without reply.
The crowd were treated to a pulsating, ding-dong opening 40 minutes, in which the two sides shared six tries.
Exeter winger Tom O’Flaherty blew a golden opportunity to open the scoring when he was tackled just short of the line in the fifth minute and, seven minutes later, Bath centre Max Clark opened up the Chiefs defence and fed Sam Underhill, who sent Joe Cokanasiga over beside the posts, leaving Orlando Bailey with a simple conversion.
Exeter struck right back two minutes later when Joe Simmonds’ long pass found Scotland international full-back Hogg, who drew the last defender before sending in Jacques Vermeulen for a try in the corner, which Simmonds improved.
Bath then took the game by the scruff of the neck with two in six minutes, when Josh Bayliss produced a wonderful step to score in the corner after a pass by Underhill, before Cokanasiga – making his first start of the season – grabbed his second of the game galloping clear after some smart handling in the five-metre channel down the right-hand side, and Bailey converted to make it 22-7.
However, with Simmonds off the pitch for a head injury assessment after trying to tackle Cokanasiga, Hogg took control.
He made a fine break and when he found himself with no support, he put in an excellent grubber kick that tight-head prop Patrick Schickerling showed amazing speed to get on the end of. He was stopped just short of the line, but Dave Ewers finished off, and with Hogg successfully taking over the kicking duties, Exeter were back in it.
Then, in first-half injury time, Exeter kicked a penalty to the corner, and from the catch-and-drive, Schickerling burst clear to score, and Hogg’s conversion left Chiefs only trailing by one point at the break at 21-22.
Bath’s Will Muir had a try ruled out by the television match official very early in the second half for a knock-on, before the same fate befell Exeter’s O’Flaherty after a blocking run by Hogg.
Exeter camped in the Bath 22, piling on the pressure, looking for the score to put them in front for the first time, but the visitors stood firm.
However, with 15 minutes remaining, Exeter edged head with a close-range try by replacement prop Billy Keast, converted by Simmonds, and Hogg and replacement Santiago Grondona crossed for further late tries to seal a priceless victory for the Chiefs.
Comments on RugbyPass
We’re building a bridge but can't agree where the river is.
2 Go to commentsfirst no arms shoulder or helmet tackle into his rib cage is going to be so very painful even to watch. go back to RU mate.
1 Go to commentsBulls by 5. Plus another 50.
3 Go to commentsJohan Goosen avatar. Cute. Surely someone at RP knows how to do a google image search?
3 Go to commentsCan’t these games play a little earlier? Asking for a friend.
3 Go to commentsIt’s impressive that we can see huge stadiums with attendance in the 40 000 to 50 000 region. It shows how popular this competition is becoming. What is even more impressive is the massive growth in broadcast viewership. The URC is one of the two best leagues in the World, the other being the Top14.
7 Go to commentsChristie is not Sottish, like the majority of the Scotland team.
2 Go to commentsHold the phone, decline over-rated. Is it a one game, dead cat bounce or the real thing? Has the Penney dropped? Stay tuned.
45 Go to commentsTotally deserved win for the Crusaders Far smarter than the Chiefs who seem to be avoiding the basics when it matters Hotham showed them what was missing and Hannah seems a real find - a tad light but that can be fixed over time
8 Go to commentsGreat insight into the performance culture with Sarries and I predict Christie will be a fixture in the Scotland team now for some time to come. However, he is slightly missing his own point around Scotland “being soft” when he cites physicality examples in defence of that slight. The issue is much closer to the example he referenced around feeling off before a game but being told “it doesn’t matter, you can still play well” by Farrell. Until Scotland can get their psyche in that square, they will carry on folding under extreme pressure…
2 Go to comments> We are having to adapt, evolve and innovate more than when we were in Super Rugby where there was only really one style that everybody had to play to gain the most success. Have = able to? Interesting what that one style might be? I thought SA sides still had bad tours now, or at least bad schedule, months away? Those extra few hours flights have to be a killer though, no surprise to see their sides doing so badly at the start of the season each year. I wouldn’t enjoy that unfairness as a supporter.
7 Go to commentsThe problem for NZ, and Aus, is they ripped up the SR model and lost a massive chunk of revenue that hasn’t been replaced. Don’t forget SA clubs went North because they were left with no choice, Argy unceremoniously binned and Japan cast adrift. Now SR wasn’t perfect, far from it, but they’ve jumped into something without an effective plan, so far, to replace what they’ve lost. The biggest revenue potential now lies in Japan but it won’t be easy or quick to unlock, they are incredibly insular in culture as a nation. In the meantime, there is a serious time bomb sitting under SH rugby and if it happens then the current financial challenges will look like a picnic. IF the Boks follow their provincial teams and head north then it’s revenue meltdown. Not guaranteed to happen but the status quo is a very odd hybrid, with the Boks pointing one way and the clubs pointing the other way. And for as long as that remains then the threat is real.
45 Go to commentsI think Etene has had some good tuition, likely while at the Warriors to be a professional that helped his rugby jump, but he was certainly thrown in the deep end way too early. Should have arguably 20 less SR caps, and therefor a way better record that he does at his age, but his development would have been fast tracked by the need to satiate his signing away from league. Again, credit to him and others that he has done it so well. Easy to fall over under that pressure in the big leagues like that but he kept at it when I myself wasn’t sure he was good enough.
1 Go to commentsAwesome story. I wonder what a bigger American (SA) scene might have mean for Brex.
1 Go to comments“Johnny McNicholl and the Crusaders” save a Penney. Who has been in camp this week and showed them how to play?
8 Go to commentsSo, reports of the Crusaders’ demise / terminal decline are perhaps just - slightly - premature/exaggerated…? 🤔 Will we see a deep-dive into that by the estimable Rugbypass scribes, and maybe one or two mea culpas? Thought not.
8 Go to comments1. The Chiefs are rudderless without DMac, which enhances his AB chances 2. Chiefs pack are powderpuffs. The hard men arent there anymore 3. They had their golden title chance last yr and wont threaten this yr. Gone in second round of playoffs.
8 Go to commentsHonestly, why did you have to publish such a foolish article the day they play us? 😂
45 Go to comments> They are not standalone entities. They are linked to an amateur association which holds the FFR licence that allows the professional side to compete in the league. That’s a great rule. This looks like the chicken or egg professional scenario. How long is it going to be before the club can break even (if that is even a thing in French rugby)? If the locals aren’t into well it would be good to se them drop to amateur level (is it that far?). Hope they can reset from this level and be more practical, there will be a time when they can rebuild (if France has there setup right).
1 Go to commentsWhat about changing the ball? To something heavier and more pointed that bounces unpredictably. Not this almost round football used these days.
35 Go to comments