Bath miss chance to top Prem after defeat at Exeter

The Prem

Exeter (13) 35

Tries: Iosefa-Scott, Brown-Bampoe, Ikitau, Ridl Cons: Skinner, Slade 2 Pens: Slade 3

Bath (5) 12

Tries: Frost, Underhill Cons: Frost

Reigning champions Bath missed the chance to go top of The Prem as they lost 35-12 at Exeter.

The Chiefs - playing for the first time since members approved an American-backed takeover of the club - were 6-0 up when Bath's Quinn Roux was given a 20-minute red card for a head-on-head clash with Henry Slade.

Josh Iosefa-Scott went over for the hosts soon after, but Dan Frost responded as Bath did well with a man down.

Both sides had a player sin-binned in the first 15 minutes of the second half as Paul Brown-Bampoe extended the hosts' lead before Sam Underhill pulled a try back for Bath.

But Australia international Len Ikitau's try with 15 minutes remaining ensured an Exeter win before Campbell Ridl sprinted over with five minutes left to earn a bonus point.

Exeter's first league win over Bath since December 2022 lifts them five points above Bristol and into fourth place.

Meanwhile, the champions failed to take advantage of Northampton's heavy derby loss at Leicester on Saturday and remain in second place - two points behind Saints.

With a strong wind at the hosts' backs, Slade kicked two penalties before Roux was dismissed after colliding with Slade as the Exeter fly-half gathered a high ball.

Four minutes later Exeter broke through - Iosefa-Scott forcing his way in from close range after Ikitau's fleet-footed line break.

But Bath impressively weathered the remaining time with a man down - and hit back well - their forwards won a penalty and from the resulting lineout former Exeter favourite Frost steered the maul over the line.

While Exeter had the better of the possession with the wind in their favour, too often small errors curbed their attacking intent as they led by eight points at the break.

Bath were further hampered when Tom de Glanville was sent to the sin-bin five minutes after the break and Exeter took advantage almost immediately when Brown-Bampoe got on the end of a flowing move in the left corner for his 10th try of the season.

Bath again refused to buckle, and when Campbell Ridl was yellow-carded for a head-to-head clash with Finn Russell with 26 minutes left Underhill went over in the corner as the visitors' forwards powered in from the resulting close-range lineout.

But Exeter finally got a match-winning gap with 15 minutes left as half an hour with 14 men began to tell on Bath. Ikitau darted over from a couple of metres after the hosts had won a penalty on their opponents' line following a Dafydd Jenkins break.

There was still time for Exeter's latest young wing prospect Ridl to show his pace as he blazed through the Bath defence late on to go over before Slade kicked his third penalty in the closing moments.

Exeter director of rugby Rob Baxter told BBC Sport:

"I think we got a lot right today and the way the lads went out around that second half was fantastic.

"It was a second half that was almost built for Bath with the score line pretty tight, big breeze heading straight down the field.

"When we had to defend we put in decent sense of defence, but I think what we did really well was we kept the tempo of the game at where we wanted it to be.

"I think for the first 20 minutes the game was played at our tempo, then there was about 20 minutes where Bath seized control and the game got played at their tempo and I think then for a fair bit of the second half there was only spells where it wasn't about us.

"In the context of the season and the last three or four weeks, it's huge.

"I think a poor result for us today, on the back of a good performance and a decent result against Northampton at home, obviously then the European fixture and Gloucester away. However you want to look at it, it would feel like the season was petering out a little bit.

"Well, that's just flipped that on his head now because the season isn't petering out at all."

Bath head of rugby Johann van Graan told BBC Sport:

"It's always difficult to come here in the first place, and I thought Exeter put us under a huge amount of pressure.

"We got beaten by the better team on the day and I thought we handled the the red card pretty well for that 20 minutes`

"We had an opportunity just before half-time which we didn't finish and had to win in the second half and 15 minutes to go it was a one score game and we lost the line-out on the far side.

"In this league [even] if you are 99% there you get punished and Exeter Chiefs punished us in that last 10 minutes."

Exeter: Woodburn; Brown-Bampoe, Slade, Ikitau, Ridl; Skinner, Varney; Sio, Norey, Iosefa-Scott, Jenkins (c), Zambonin, Hooper, Tshiunza, Vintcent.

Replacements: Dweba, Burger, Tchumbadze, Tuima, Worley Brady, Cairns, Haydon-Wood, Hammersley.

Yellow card: Ridl (53)

Bath: De Glanville; Cokanasiga, Lawrence, Butt, Arundell; Russell, Spencer (c); Van Wyk, Frost, Griffin; Roux, Molony, Hill, Underhill, Barbeary.

Replacements: Tuipulotu, Obano, Du Toit, Ewels, Pepper, Carr-Smith, Carreras, Redpath.

Red card: Roux (14)

Yellow card: De Glanville (44)

Referee: Karl Dickson