Bristol Bears kept up the pressure on Bath at the top of the Premiership with a thrilling 52-38 win over Exeter Chiefs at Ashton Gate in a game of 14 tries.
The game’s first quarter saw a flood of tries as Bears secured a bonus point in 16 minutes, the second quickest time a bonus point has been picked up in Premiership history, narrowly failing to beat Northampton’s record of 14 minutes.
Jack Bates got the scoring started on the way to grabbing a hat-trick, while James Williams scored twice and Benhard Janse van Rensburg also went over for the Bears in an electrifying start.
But Chiefs picked up a bonus point by half-time too thanks to tries from Martin Moloney, Henry Slade, Dafydd Jenkins and Josh Hodge.
The match also saw a referee’s decision broadcast over a stadium public address system in the Premiership for the first time when Karl Dickson sent off Bristol’s Argentina back row Santiago Grondona before the break.
But despite having a man advantage for the majority of the match, Chiefs could not deal with Bristol’s work rate as they were beaten for the 10th time this season.
More to follow.
