Bristol Bears battle past Exeter Chiefs in rain-soaked Sandy Park clash

Bristol Bears leapfrogged Exeter Chiefs into third place in the Premiership table after grinding out an 8–3 victory in appalling conditions at a sodden Sandy Park.

With heavy rain dominating proceedings, the match was low on fluency and high on attrition, as handling errors and referee Karl Dickson’s whistle stifled any rhythm. The deadlock was finally broken just before the half-hour mark when Henry Slade kicked a penalty to give Exeter a narrow lead.

Bristol struck decisively before the break, however, when Noah Heward slid over for the game’s only try after a mishandling from Olly Woodburn, with the Bears capitalising from the resulting scrum.

Despite Exeter enjoying more possession after the interval, they were unable to breach a resilient Bristol defence. With the match drifting towards a low-scoring draw, James Williams kept his nerve late on, slotting a decisive penalty to condemn Rob Baxter’s side to their first home defeat of the season.

The result leaves Exeter fifth in the table on 35 points, while Bristol departed Devon soaked—but satisfied—with a crucial away win.