The perils of going too early. We should know by now that no game in this competition is ever dead until it is dead, so common is the comeback these days. But when Bath, league leaders, had the bonus point here by the half-hour mark – and a 26-10 lead to go with it – we did assume they were home and hosed. All the more so, given Exeter’s low levels of confidence, not to mention their low position in the table, with only Newcastle below them. But the Chiefs would not let matters lie. Inspired by Paul Brown-Bampoe on the wing, they denied their high-flying visitors any points at all in the second half. Brown-Bampoe’s double in the third quarter pulled them back to two points by the hour mark. Bath managed to hold out in a nervy final quarter, but the stuff of champions this was not. Whether the go-too-early formula will apply to their quest for a first Premiership title of the professional era remains to be seen. This win moves them 15 points clear at the top. They are not quite guaranteed a playoff spot, but with Newcastle visiting the Rec next week, that surely is only a matter of time. They are bursting with options, showing them off here by fielding a completely different pack from that which did for Gloucester last weekend in the Challenge Cup. Maybe that annoyed Exeter, but it may also have irritated some of those in attendance. Andy Farrell was watching, perhaps less as Lions coach, more on a little jaunt up the A38 from the family holiday home in South Devon. He was accompanied by his son (no, not that one), who is making his way through the Irish rugby set-up and may yet be on a future Lions coach’s radar some day. Of more immediate interest to Farrell in a professional context is, of course, Finn Russell. At times, Bath’s fly-half played as imperiously as ever, his sleight of hand releasing runners right left and centre into the tenderest parts of Exeter’s defence. At others, he was loose and struggled as much as any in Bath ranks to regain control as the game threatened to slip away. After an opening quarter of only modest coherence, in which Exeter took the lead twice, either side of a penalty try for Bath, the visitors found their pitch in a devastating five-minute spell, in which they scored three tries to register the bonus point. Russell’s hands released Max Ojomoh, who sent Tom de Glanville off to the corner. Josh Hodge’s tackle saved the day that time, but Bath scored the first of those three tries, their second overall, from the resultant lineout, Neil Annett touching down at the back of the maul. Three minutes later, from a scrum on halfway, Russell looped Cameron Redpath to send De Glanville away. Miles Reid went close, but the ball came left. Russell fed a couple of front-row forwards, who expertly put Josh Bayliss over. Two minutes later again, Bayliss was galloping off from Redpath’s inside ball, and Ben Spencer’s brilliant pass on the run released Will Muir to the line. Home and hosed? Not quite. Immanuel Feyi-Waboso may be one of a few of the Exeter injured, but Brown-Bampoe may yet interest Steve Borthwick as he casts around for candidates for England’s summer tour. Exeter’s winger finished a deadly counterattack, featuring a Josh Hodge break, 10 minute into the second half. And 10 minutes later, he finished after a break of his own, following up to accept Henry Slade’s offload out of a tackle. That set up those nervy final stages. Bath held out. Job done, they will say. But they know only too well that early leads count for very little in these title races.
Author: Michael Aylwin at Sandy Park