Bath head into 2015 as top dogs in the West Country after proving themselves the team that are close to having everything. Ambitious in the first half they turned to a more muscular game in the second to take the match away from their neighbours. After racking up a record win at Gloucester last Saturday Bath ended the first half of the season with a four-try, bonus-point victory to extend their record of never losing to Exeter in eight league meetings.
The combination of Bruce Craig’s money and the recruiting by Mike Ford, the director of rugby – the Fijian scrum-half Nikola Matawalu was added this week – is creating a potent mix. Bath have now gone seven games without losing while scoring at least 23 points.
“We have got a really good squad at the moment,” Ford said. “That was our fifth tough game on the run so we will take a break and give the players time off until Wednesday because our next game [against Leicester] is not easy. We need them fresh.”
Not that Exeter are doing badly. Rob Baxter’s recruiting had been less eye-watering than the kind of deal which brought Sam Burgess to union but in Henry Slade, Jack Nowell and Sam Hill Exeter have quality of their own.
Bath’s credentials were on the table within eight minutes. Unfortunately, the TMO had spotted a forward pass but with the Bath forwards waxing strong, even then it looked like becoming a hard afternoon for Exeter.
George Ford, Kyle Eastmond and Jonathan Joseph were weaving patterns in midfield and with Eastmond making breaks – one sidestep took the England centre 40 metres upfield – plus dangerous runs by Anthony Watson from full-back and the left wing, Horacio Agulla, it was surprising Bath remained scoreless for as long as they did.
Exeter crossed the line first and it came on the back of their own solid defence and the first of many passing errors from Bath. At the heart of the try was a scruffy pass from Ford which escaped Dominic Day’s grasp. Dean Mumm, the Exeter captain, accepted the present, found Matt Jess and 40 metres later the wing was over close enough to ensure seven points.
Bath were back alongside within five minutes but again a sloppy Ford pass could have ruined the day. Leroy Houston juggled the difficult ball before putting Agulla away, the wing’s inside step wrong-footing any cover to make Ford’s conversion as easy as Jess had made Steenson’s.
It was not until four minutes before half-time that Bath went ahead and it was their turn to benefit from sloppy play. First, Francois Louw snaffled a lineout that missed everyone and then Rob Webber put Matt Banahan away. It was enough to unhinge the defence and a couple of Ford dummies and a muscular break by the scrum-half, Chris Cook, on the other side of the field opened up a gaping hole for Eastmond to go through.
The start of the second half was just as hectic. However, it was another iffy Ford pass that laid the foundations for Exeter levelling the score. Attempting to find Banahan the England fly-half instead bounced the ball off Gareth Steenson’s back. Hill was quickest to react and Nowell raced from one side of the field to the other to win the race for the centre’s chip ahead.
Cue a flurry of messages from the Bath coaches, the arrival of Ross Batty and Dave Attwood and a change of approach. Instead of Bath trying to run from everywhere their pack took over, rolling a lineout maul from 25 metres out to the line. Ford kicked the conversion and within the blink of an eye was clearing up a mess on his own line. Exeter changed their front row but Bath still managed to roll the next lineout and won a penalty at the next scrum – the first penalty Ford had attempted to kick in 40 minutes.
It put them two scores ahead at 24-14 and with 18 minutes left it was time for Sam Burgess to continue his union education, replacing Joseph in the centre rather than going to the back row.
The next Bath maul produced the yellow card that settled things. Mitch Lees went to the bin, Exeter were outnumbered when the ball went wide and Watson scored the try he deserved for his man-of-the-match display.
“Ultimately we paid the price for losing forward control,” said Rob Baxter, the Exeter head coach.
