Exeter Chiefs Men v Bath Rugby

Exeter Chiefs were defeated 19-35 at Sandy Park by a combative Bath Rugby side in round three of the PREM Rugby Cup.

Fly-half Ciaran Donoghue was the scorer of 20 of Bath’s 35 points, including a try.

Chiefs seemed to be getting into the groove of their game-plan in the latter stages of the first half but were unable to fight back to claim the upper hand after the break.

Tom Carr-Smith was the first to score after five minutes of opening action. Winger Sam Winters made the initial break before releasing his fly-half five metres out from the Chiefs 22. Carr-Smith ate up the remaining metres to score before his half-back partner Donoghue added the conversion.

Both back-rows had big impacts on the encounter but perhaps none more so than Arthur Green and his try assist in the 17th minute. He burst through the gainline from the ruck, before being dragged down by Sam Wolstenholme in the 22. However, the Bath man got a last-ditch offload out to Jack Harrison to finish the try. Donoghue again added the extras.

Chiefs responded in the 25th minute through the power carry of debutant, Archie McArthur. Some brutal work trying to chip away at the Bath defence on their line put the Chiefs within range and the loosehead prop darted over from inches out. Former England U20s fly-half Ben Coen took kicking duties for Chiefs, splitting the uprights for the conversion.

Donoghue topped up his side’s lead with a three-point penalty just before a half-hour played when the home side were penalised for being off-side on the edge of the 22.

Dominant ball-carrier, and McArthur’s fellow debutant in the starting line-up, Carwyn Tuipulotu put the Chiefs back within close range on the scoreboard just before half-time. Some strong work off the set-piece deep in Bath territory put the Exeter men on the front foot. Tuipulotu stormed over with a solid latch to secure five points.

Donoghue did attempt another kick at goal with the clock in the red, but as the ball rebounded off the bar, Wolstenholme booted it into touch to send the teams into the changing rooms.

Not to be put off by his miss at the end of the first, Donoghue secured the first points of the second half. Taking a carry himself off the ruck, he sniped around the defence to cross in the corner for a try which he then converted himself.

On 55 minutes, Bath emptied their bench of the seven remaining replacements as they looked to maintain both energy levels and their strong lead on the game.

Donoghue had time to add another three-point penalty to his record before Chiefs scored their third try. Will Haydon-Wood broke at pace, releasing Sam Harris down the touchline with a snappy pass. The replacement cantered in for the try which Coen quickly converted.

Unfortunately for Chiefs, the remainder of the game was spent on the defensive line. Pushed all the way back to their own whitewash, Bath added a maul try courtesy of replacement hooker Max Pearce in the 74th minute.

Though the conversion attempt was wide, Donoghue corrected his approach and added a final penalty on the 80th minute to bring the game to its end.

Chiefs now drop to fifth in pool A with a game in hand over fourth placed Bristol Bears. Next weekend’s round four brings about a short turnaround to Sale Sharks away at the CorpAcq on Friday evening.