Stunning Bristol fightback sinks Exeter

Gabriel Ibitoye scored a hat-trick as Bristol fought back to win from 32-12 down

Gallagher Premiership

Exeter (15) 35

Tries: Brown-Bampoe 2, Feyi-Waboso 2 Cons: Hodge 3 Pens: Hodge 3

Bristol (12) 40

Tries: Marmion, Batley, Oghre, Ibitoye 3 Cons: MacGinty 5

Gabriel Ibitoye scored a stunning late hat-trick as Bristol fought back to beat Exeter 40-35 and go top of the Premiership after a thrilling West Country derby.

Tries from Paul Brown-Bampoe and England winger Immanuel Feyi-Waboso gave Chiefs a 15-12 half-time lead, with Kieran Marmion and Joe Batley responding.

A second try apiece from wingers Brown-Bampoe and Feyi-Waboso made it 32-12, but the Chiefs lost the plot after Dan Frost’s 65th-minute sin-binning.

Three tries in four minutes through Gabriel Oghre and Ibitoye (2) put Bears in front.

And although Josh Hodge’s late penalty nudged the Chiefs back ahead, Ibitoye then raced away to seal a stunning win.

An eighth successive Premiership win on the road - stretching back to last December - allowed Bristol to leapfrog two points above Saracens, who take on Harlequins on Sunday.

Exeter remain ninth and winless after a fourth straight defeat extended their worst start to a Premiership season.

But it is the manner of the reverse that will haunt the home fans and thrill the visitors, who also won away at local rivals Bath last weekend.

Feyi-Waboso impresses but Ibitoye has final say

England winger Immanuel Feyi-Waboso scored each side of the break to put Chiefs in control

Exeter's three-point lead at the break was scant reward for a dominant first-half display as they spurned a string of chances, while it was two attacks and two tries for the clinical Bears.

Scott Sio had already been stopped just shy of the line before Hodge banged over a penalty.

But having barely set foot in Exeter's half, the Bears created something from nothing as Batley's blindside break gave Marmion a clear run to the line.

With Bears forward Josh Caulfield in the bin, a rock-solid scrum and Harvey Skinner's long pass sent in Brown-Bampoe for his first Premiership try.

The Chiefs continued to spurn good openings and the Bears cashed in again when slick handling saw Batley squeeze over in the right corner.

Exeter edged into a slender lead seconds before the break when electric acceleration sent England winger Feyi-Waboso on a slaloming run under the posts.

Hodge slotted a 40-metre penalty before their flying wingers looked to have forged a winning lead.

A quick pass from debutant Franco Molina sent Brown-Bampoe streaking away for his second and, moments later, Feyi-Waboso's interception score made it 32-12 just after the hour.

But the game turned on its head - and quickly - when Frost was sent to the bin for delaying a Bears penalty, a rash decision that would cost the Chiefs four tries and 28 points in those 10 minutes.

Oghre broke away from weak tackles to cross before Ibitoye took over, latching on to AJ MacGinty's kick ahead to score and a minute later, the winger's brilliant solo try incredibly put the Bears ahead.

Hodge landed a penalty with five minutes left to put the home side back in front at 35-33 but Ibitoye then scorched away to seal the Bears' first Premiership win at Sandy Park since January 2021.

Exeter Chiefs director of rugby Rob Baxter told BBC Radio Devon:

"We're close to being a very good team, but the bit that we've got to get right is probably the hardest bit in professional sport, which is holding your composure together under pressure and not multiplying issues.

"We had a lot of players multiplying issues today. It's not because they don't want to win, it's not because they don't care, I know that, but they've got to be able to just clear their heads sometimes and just do the right things.

"It was a little bit scary watching us after that yellow card. Some of the lads will look at me, and I swear they will be saying 'I don’t know what I did'.

"Some of it was a little bit silly, almost, but we're not going to move on until we take responsibility."

Bristol Bears director of rugby Pat Lam told BBC Radio Bristol:

"When it was 32-12 we sent messages on ‘we can score three tries in 18 minutes, no problem’.

"What we needed was just some possession because we knew that we were tiring them out. We showed clips at half-time that they were out on their feet when we took them into phase, but we were just turning the ball over and giving away penalties.

"We always say our game will take us here and our game will get us back into it, and the way we played with our shape was brilliant.

"We made a statement last week but that would go out of the window if we didn’t back it up, so to come and win at a place we haven't won at in a long time, and the way we did it, I'm really pleased."

Exeter: Hodge; Feyi-Waboso, Woodburn, Hawkins, Brown-Bampoe; Skinner, Maunder; Sio, Yeandle (c), Street, Tuima, Molina, Vermeulen, Capstick, Vintcent.

Replacements: Frost, Goodrick-Clarke, Iosefa-Scott, Dunne, Roots, Fisilau, Cairns, Hammersley.

Sin-bin: Frost (65).

Bristol: Lane; Bates, Jenkins, Janse van Rensburg, Ibitoye; MacGinty, Marmion; Woolmore, Oghre, Lahiff, Caulfield, Batley, Luatua, S Grondona, Harding (c).

Replacements: Capon, Genge, Kloska, Dun, B Grondona, Randall, Worsley, Elizalde.

Sin-bin: Caulfield (15).

Referee: M Carley.