Bates hat-trick as Bristol beat Exeter in 14-try thriller

Gallagher Premiership

Bristol Bears (40) 52

Cons: Byrne 6; Tries: Williams 2; Janse van Rensburg, Randall, Luatua

Chiefs of Exeter (24) 38

In a 14-try thriller at Ashton Gate, Bristol Bears kept the pressure on Bath, who are currently at the top of the table, with a rousing 52-38 victory over Chiefs of Exeter.

In the first quarter of the Premiership, the Bears scored a string of tries, clinching a bonus point in 16 minutes, which was only a few minutes behind Northampton’s 14-minute mark.

Benhard Janse van Rensburg also went over for the Bears in an electrifying opening half, while Jack Bates started the scoring with a hat-trick, James Williams scored twice, and Benhard Janse van Rensburg also scored twice.

However, Martin Moloney, Henry Slade, Dafydd Jenkins, and Josh Hodge scored tries to give Chiefs a bonus point by half-time.

A referee’s decision was also broadcast before the game for the first time, when Karl Dickson sent off Bristol’s Argentina back row Santiago Grondona before the break.

With Bristol’s victory, Exeter are still bottom of the standings while Bath are just one point behind them.

With center Williams back in the squad after recovering from an injury, England internationals Harry Randall and Ellis Genge returning from Six Nations duty, and Leinster loanee Harry Byrne extending his stay at the club until the end of the season, Bristol director of rugby Pat Lam had stated prior to the match that his team were “coming back into the Premiership stronger than before the international break.”

In terms of attacking play, Lam was certainly right, but both teams struggled defensively as a result of their exchanges, which appeared to be occurring frequently after restarts.

Rich Lane’s first try was fed in by player of the match Bates in the opening two minutes thanks to a powerful line-out by the Bears.

The first of many restarts followed shortly after, when Moloney added a try before Williams broke a tackle to retake the lead in the eighth minute.

As the Chiefs’ fly-half Ben Coen intercepted a cross-field kick, Hodge offloaded it to Slade for an immediate response, but the tries continued.

Bears scored consecutive tries for the first time in the match when Williams touched down for his second try from a quick line-out, earning his side their first bonus point.

With 20 minutes left in the match, Jenkins’ pick-and-go kept Exeter in it.

Eight minutes later, Bates crossed for the second time, with Exeter’s England centre Henry Slade failing a head injury assessment after being severely hit by Bears number eight Viliame Mata in the build-up.

Hodge scored a try from his own chipped ball, and Rob Baxter’s side was given a second chance when Grondona was shown the red for catching Moloney’s face with his head.

Bears’ lack of men seemed to be a problem when Randall snipped over to make it 40-24 at half-time.

Bears firmly pulled away at the start of the second half thanks to back row replacement Steve Luatua’s tackles on Richard Capstick and Will Rigg, who had already scored the league’s highest scoring first half of the season.

Bates then added his hat-trick, which was a result of scrum-half Randall’s quick tap penalty and swift running, which had sparked chaos for the Chiefs defense throughout the match.

class=”ssrcss-xbdn93-ItalicText e5tfeyi2″>Replacements: Naulago, Thomas, Thomas, Thomas, Caulfield, Luatua, Marmion, Elizalde, and Thacker.

Sin bin: Naulago (77)

Red card: Grondona (29)

Exeter: John, Brown-Bampoe, Slade, Rigg, Hodge, Coen, Cairns, Goodrick-Clarke, Norey, Roots, Jenkins, Tshiunza, Moloney, Capstick, Fisilau, and Jenkins.