Exeter edged a gripping arm-wrestle of a match against their south-west rivals Bristol to move top of the Premiership table with three wins out of four. The visiting full-back Rich Lane scored a brilliant hat-trick – all created from the cultured boot of the Bears fly-half Callum Sheedy – but the Chiefs’ power and precision ultimately proved the difference.
The most recent meeting between these sides was in early September, when Exeter ran out 75-0 winners in the Premiership Rugby Cup. Bristol’s lineup was rather different that day, but even so the threat of another rout hung in the air when the Chiefs efficiently battered their way to the tryline in the third minute and the lock Rusi Tuima finished smartly.
