Chiefs stay bottom despite brave Bath battle

Exeter Chiefs just cannot catch a break in the Gallagher Premiership, slumping to their seventh straight defeat despite a stoic showing at new leaders Bath.

After the welcome respite of some victories in cup competitions, the Chiefs arrived full of determination to end their bleak winless run in the league, and they successfully disturbed any Bath rhythm in a scrappy opening to the game.

The home side finally breached the Exeter defence when Guy Pepper found a gap to score after a line-out but the Chiefs quickly fought back, Henry Slade’s precision kick providing the platform for a siege on the Bath defence that eventually saw skipper Jacques Vermeulen power over the line.

A penalty from Slade gave the Chiefs a half-time lead and they almost pounced on Bath sloppiness in the early stages of the second period, but when the hosts emerged unscathed the pattern of the game changed.

Pepper notched his second try for the home side and a yellow card for Ben Spencer gave Bath the numerical advantage, which they ruthless exploited with Niall Annett dotting down from a close-range drive to seal a 19-15 victory.

Exeter director of rugby Rob Baxter told BBC Radio Devon: "We've been in it for the whole game really, and we got very close to creating a bit more pressure, but we haven't quite rounded off our moments, have we?

"You could say Bath were a bit more accurate than us in that conversion rate, but on the whole we've given it a good go, we've come up a little bit short, bonus point away from home in the Premiership, especially against a top team is pretty good, but it's just a little frustrating.

"We just need a win to kick-start our season and feel good about ourselves."