MEANWHILE, back in the domestic game, matters came back to vibrant life as Bath squeezed a narrow victory from a tense encounter with their West Country rivals.
Exeter, who have never won at Bath in the Premiership, were entitled to feel themselves unfortunate. They had just the better of the game and threatened Bath’s line more often than their own was threatened. In the end, Exeter’s failure to score a second-half try despite long periods of encampment deep in Bath territory consigned them to defeat.
Most attention may have been elsewhere, and the four England players on view at The Rec may have been thinking about what might have been, but the result was important and may remain so when the Premiership table is concluded next May.
Those England players had mixed fortunes. Sam Burgess came on as a substitute, as a flanker, but made no impact apart from getting sent to the sin-bin for deliberate offside.
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Bath’s other England players, George Ford and Anthony Watson, were in fine form and contributed to Bath’s rather fortunate victory. For Exeter, Henry Slade appeared in the second half and tried manfully to make the difference. He almost scored a near-miracle try when he danced his way past a thicket of defenders only to lose the ball as he stretched forwards to touch it down.
Exeter, who were better organised in a physical first-half, deserved their single-point lead at half-time. They had carried more threat as they demonstrated after 44 seconds when they mounted a counter that ended with James Short handing off Ford and sprinting to the line.
Ford should have done better, but thereafter he was much more assured and played the key part in Bath’s first-half try. Receiving a sharp, flat pass from Kyle Eastmond, he floated a long ball to Watson who tormented the defenders in front of him before slipping the ball to Stuart Hooper, who raced clear to score.
During that first half, when Exeter had the edge in most departments Ford’s father, Mike, Bath’s head coach and mentioned as a possible successor to Stuart Lancaster, was becoming increasingly fraught as he watched from the west stand. His instructions to his assistant at pitchside were urgent and animated.
Once Ford had made his views clear to the players directly during the interval, one imagined that Bath would be energised. Instead, they continued to struggle and when Burgess was sent to the bin, it seemed a turning point but Bath had a rare period of sustained pressure.
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The decisive thrust came when Ford junior kicked a perfect penaltyinto the corner. From the lineout, Exeter strayed offside and Ford kicked the penalty that turned a one-point deficit into a two-point advantage.
Exeter kept attacking and had some last-ditch opportunities to snatch a win, but their finishing was not sufficiently slick, and handling errors at critical moments proved costly.
Right to the final whistle, the issue was in doubt. Indeed, the very last chance fell to Slade some two minutes after the allotted 40 had expired. He was well positioned to drop a goal as he received a pass, but his attempt was charged down and the game was up.
Star man: George Ford (Bath)
Bath: Homer; Rokoduguni, Banahan, Eastmond (Clark 66min), Watson; Ford, Cook (Matawalu 46min); Auterac (Lahiff 63min), Batty (Webber 56min), Thomas (Wilson 55min), Hooper (capt) (Mercer 73min), Attwood, Garvey, Faosiliva (Burgess 46min), Houston
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Exeter Chiefs: Dollman; Jess, Whitten, Hill (Slade 48min), Short; Steenson (capt) Chudley (Lewis 68min); Moon (Low 46min), Cowan-Dickie (Yeandle 55min), Brown (Hepburn 46min), Lees, Welch, Ewers (Salvi 67min), Armand, Waldrom