Exeter’s Rob Baxter, the director of rugby, said they were “getting towards last chance saloon” in the run-up to this pulsating victory against Bath. The hosts eventually ground out a bonus-point success on a cold, bright day in Devon, but the outcome of their bid for the playoffs remains out of their hands. Second-half tries by Billy Keast, Stuart Hogg and Santiago Grondona decisively put an end to Bath’s resistance, while Exeter’s top-four rivals Gloucester were defeated at home by Wasps. Welcome news for the Exeter fans, although Gloucester’s two matches in hand may yet prove decisive.
“All we can control is winning games,” said the Exeter head coach, Ali Hepher. “Picking up a bonus point is massive today, we’ve got to attack every game and pick up what we can, it’s as simple as that. It’s a cup final every week.”
Baxter said this week that he was open to talking to the RFU about Eddie Jones’s succession, and if he does become involved with England he may consider some of the young Bath players who chucked the ball around with such enthusiasm at Sandy Park. At 22, Tom de Glanville looks increasingly likely to graduate to the senior international side. Exeter’s Henry Slade was absent due to a mandatory rest break, along with Sam Simmonds, and Baxter will be heartened by the scoring of six tries in their absence.
Sam Underhill set the tone for another remarkable individual display for Bath after receiving an offload from Max Clark and passing to Joe Cokanasiga who touched down. That came after Exeter had started strongly, pinning Bath back for much of the first 10 minutes, but failing to score. Exeter hit back, though, when Jacques Vermeulen cantered over.
Bath kept coming; Will Muir and De Glanville started a move which finished with Underhill the creator again, this time passing to Josh Bayliss, whose silky sidestep left Tom Hendrickson wrong-footed. When Cokanasiga added his second try it was all pointing to a second straight home defeat for Exeter.
But Neal Hatley’s team paid for their high-risk approach just before half-time when an intercept by Exeter eventually created the space for Hogg to sprint clear. The Scotland captain’s sumptuous angled grubber kick for the Namibian front row Patrick Schickerling resulted in a try for Dave Ewers. Exeter ended the half by shoving to within a couple of metres and Schickerling barrelled over. Hogg’s conversion made it a one-point game at half-time, 21-22 to Bath. A big momentum shift.
Newcastle secured their first Premiership victory for five months in emphatic fashion as they thrashed Worcester by a record score of 45-10 at Sixways. The visitors scored six tries in a one-sided game to end a run of 11 league matches without a win and climb to 11th in the table, two points above Worcester.
Newcastle took the lead through George McGuigan and after Perry Humphreys had replied they opened up a 21-5 half-time advantage thanks to further scores from Brett Connon and Adam Radwan.
The Falcons continued their dominance in the second half with Louis Schreuder, Trevor Davison and Jamie Blamire touching down while Connon kicked six conversions and a penalty for a points tally of 20.
Newcastle’s director of rugby, Dean Richards, said: “I am delighted for the boys because they have played well in recent weeks and not had much luck. We have been threatening to put in a performance like this. It gives us something to build on.”
The Worcester coach, Steve Diamond, labelled his team ‘pathetic’ adding: “It is inexcusable as professionals to perform like that.”
Gloucester were dealt a hammer blow in their quest to secure a playoff spot as they went down 27-21 at home to Wasps. Gloucester’s forwards dominated the contest but Wasps took advantage of their limited chances to outscore them by three tries to two.
Jacob Umaga, Gabriel Oghre and Charlie Atkinson touched down with Jimmy Gopperth kicking three conversions and a penalty. Replacement Dan Robson also fired over a superb drop goal. Kyle Moyle scored a try for Gloucester and there was also a penalty try award with Adam Hastings kicking three penalties.
The Gloucester head coach, George Skivington, said: “I’m really disappointed but we got what we deserved. We could have nicked it at the end but – having not played for three weeks – we were a bit rusty.”
The Northampton director of rugby, Chris Boyd, said his side cannot afford to lose another game after their 39-22 victory against Bristol.
A run of four straight defeats left Saints playing catch-up in the race for the playoff, but they have responded with three consecutive wins. Northampton scored five tries – Tom Collins touching down twice with further scores from Rory Hutchinson, Lewis Ludlam and Tommy Freeman – while Dan Biggar kicked 14 points in seeing off Bristol to remain four points behind fourth-placed Exeter.
Semi Radradra had given Bristol an early lead and tries from Callum Sheedy, Yann Thomas and Alapati Leiua earned them a bonus point.
Boyd said: “I sat there three or four weeks ago, trying to do all the permutations, but I’m pretty certain we can’t afford to lose. We’ve been treating it as knockout football for the last three weeks and we’re enjoying it.”
Ealing Trailfinders clinched the Championship title in style as they ran in 10 tries to romp to a 60-10 victory at home to Richmond. Simon Uzokwe scored a hat-trick while Max Bodilly and Angus Kernohan touched down twice to ensure Ealing edged out Doncaster by three points.
It is the second year in a row that Ealing have finished top of the table but the RFU has ruled their ground does not meet the standards to be eligible for promotion.
The visitors tore into the second half with the same hunger and a Muir effort was disallowed for a knock-on. Muir intervened at the other end with a fine tap tackle on Ian Whitten, the Exeter outside centre, but Exeter kept up the momentum, and Tom O’Flaherty scored in the corner, only for the TMO to disallow the try for what Hepher called “NFL blocking” by Hogg.
The second half was scoreless moving into the final quarter – until a scrum penalty led to the replacement Keast edging Exeter back in front by bundling over, sealing a bonus point with Exeter’s trademark power. Joe Simmonds converted, they were six ahead, and Baxter’s men then shifted into another gear. Hogg had loads of space to virtually walk over the line on Exeter’s right, and Grondona, another replacement, touched down on the opposite flank.
“It’s a bit tough in there [the changing room] because there’s so many good things, but the scoreboard doesn’t reflect that,” said Hatley. “We can’t keep saying we’re heading in the right direction, or things are getting better. We need to win games.”
