Bath have signed Finn Russell on a seven-figure salary for next season and that low loss in Devon underlined exactly why they were willing to land the match-breaking Scotland half. With a little more creativity and ambition, the visitors could have gone home for Christmas with a result to savor, but ultimately they lacked the killer finish to prevent the Chiefs from claiming a seventh straight win in this game.
To say there was a lack of festive glitter sprinkled across Bath’s one-dimensional, box-dominated game plan would be an understatement, their tactical focus so limited that Russell is probably well advised not to look at the highlights. To be fair, Johann van Graan’s suffocating tactics pushed a relieved Chiefs side to the limit, but it will be fascinating to see how much license they allow their new playmaker when he finally arrives at the Rec.
One can only hope that the Scotland international managed to persuade his new boss that a little more style and innovation would be beneficial for all. Omar Mouneimne, Exeter’s defense coach, knows Van Graan well from South Africa and believes he and Russell will meet somewhere in the middle. “Johann is a good character, he has good values and I think they will find an intermediate point in which they both believe. He has brought Finn because he knows they have to evolve. I wouldn’t take Finn to scold him.”
Bath fans, on this evidence, will wish Russell could be parachuted into their team immediately. The finer details of this underwhelming game will be forgotten before the Boxing Day sales begin and the first half in particular was a desperately tough watch. Not that the bosses will care unduly. They are back in the top half of the Premiership table, tries from Dave Ewers and Henry Slade maintaining their unbroken run of success over their West Country opponents since 2019.
Had Bath got a win right at the end, though, Exeter couldn’t have complained too loudly. Having led 20-10 going into the final quarter, they allowed Bath to claw their way back into the contest through a Neil Annett short-range try and experienced more than a few late jitters before a last-gasp switch to his own line denied the visitors anything but a lost bonus point.
Bath, who lost a dazed Tom Dunn, their captain, hardly played any rugby at first but each time managed to dictate the pace of a game that rarely reached great heights of sophistication. Sam Underhill, fit after a long lay-off, enjoyed a spirited hour back at the coals and, with his help, the visitors frustrated, pressed and stifled Exeter with their defensive solidity, strong on the fringes and a decent kick chase.
Dave Ewers celebrates after Exeter hold on for victory. Photograph: Michael Steele/Getty Images
The first part was particularly tough. Not content with sticking it into the clouds from their own half, the visitors even opted to kick a box 25 meters from Exeter’s tryline, clearly looking to avoid the fast-paced, multi-phased contest in which ‘specialise the Chiefs. However, for anyone brought up on the high-octane attacking rugby of Bath in the 1980s, it was disheartening stuff.
It’s been a start-and-stop part, territorially dominated by the locals, whose advantage at the interval was fully deserved. Although Bath scored the first try through Joe Cokanasiga, courtesy of a fine tap-down from a diving Orlando Bailey, the Chiefs forwards were in determined mood and could not stop the newly prolific Ewers into range after 16 minutes.
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It was a credit to Bath’s well-organised defence, however, that it took a box kick on the visitors’ line eight minutes before the break to put Exeter in the seat of the box. Slade was the grateful scorer, but the orgy of slow ball and aerial ping-pong continued in the second half. When a dejected Cameron Redpath went off injured in the 54th minute, some in the press box wondered if he might be suffering from chronic boredom.
On the other hand, winning matches in modern professional rugby is rarely about beauty or grace. Bath’s modus operandi may not stretch the imagination unduly, but they have spent enough time in the league basement this season to know the value of a rousing performance at this time of year.
In the end, Annett’s try wasn’t enough to tip the balance, but at least his team is much harder to beat than it was three months ago. “We didn’t take full advantage in that second half when we probably should have,” admitted their international center Ollie Lawrence. “That’s disappointing but hopefully we’ll bounce back against Newcastle next week.”