Exeter outmuscle Bears despite Lane hat-trick

Exeter edged a gripping arm-wrestle of a match against their south-west rivals Bristol to move top of the Premiership table with three wins out of four. The visiting full-back Rich Lane scored a brilliant hat-trick - all created from the cultured boot of the Bears fly-half Callum Sheedybut the Chiefs' power and precision ultimately proved the difference.

- Luke McLaughlin

The most recent meeting between these sides was in early September, when Exeter ran out 75-0 winners in the Premiership Rugby Cup. Bristol's lineup was rather different that day, but even so the threat of another rout hung in the air when the Chiefs efficiently battered their way to the tryline in the third minute and the lock Rusi Tuima finished smartly.

Henry Slade converted and Exeter looked up for it, playing with pace and energy, but a couple of individual errors allowed the visitors a foothold. Sheedy reduced Bristol's deficit with a penalty, and the fly-half applied a touch of class after 11 minutes with a low, angled grubber kick that Lane waited patiently to touch down in the corner.

A high hit by Jacques Vermeulen on Benhard Janse van Rensburg had already cost Exeter a kickable penalty before Immanuel Feyi-Waboso spilled an up-and-under from Gabriel Ibitoye, giving the Bears a lineout. Again, the Sheedy-Lane combination proved deadly - this time the No 10 lofted his kick, and it was 13-7 to Bristol after the conversion bounced back off a post.