Chiefs fight hard but Bath go back to top

THIS was a rare ugly match in the Premiership as Bath returned to the top of the table and Exeter’s losing run stretched to seven league matches.

- PAUL REES

The five tries all came from short-range lineouts and kicks abounded along with penalties.

The Chiefs remain bottom after Newcastle’s victory over Saracens on Friday night, but they fought for everything, their defensive tweak worked and they left with a merited bonus point after scoring a try in the final minute.

A capacity crowd arrived with expectation but although Bath took the lead with an early try scored by Guy Pepper after the flanker had won a lineout and supported a Ted Hill charge, they collapsed under the weight of their own mistakes.

Rain earlier in the day had made the ball hard to handle, but it did not fully explain 11 handling errors in the opening 30 minutes with Finn Russell and Will Stuart guilty of the most glaring.

The mistakes dragged the game down to a basic level, despite the attempts by Russell to unpick a defence that changed its lock in the break for the autumn internationals.