Cokanasiga try not good enough for Bath
London: Exeter Chiefs were made to sweat right until the final moments in recording a welcome Christmas Eve Premiership 20-15 win over Bath at a blustery Sandy Park on Saturday night.
First-half tries from Dave Ewers and Henry Slade and Joe Simmonds’ 10 points off the tee gave Chiefs the lead, after Joe Cokanasiga’s early Bath score.
Bath stiffened up their set-piece after the break, and was rewarded when Niall Annett mauled over for a try.
They kept the home side scoreless, but were unable to further breach the line.
This win takes Rob Baxter’s side up to sixth, leapfrogging Northampton, while Bath stay second bottom following successes for London Irish and Newcastle the previous evening.
If Baxter was looking for signs that Exeter had rediscovered their mojo on the back of two European bonus point wins, it was certainly present in the defensive mettle they showed in the final phases of this encounter.
Bath had rallied magnificently in the second 40, kicking to corners and using line-outs to really dig at the heart of the Chiefs back-line.
But Exeter stood firm even when they conceded a five-metre scrum with seconds left on the clock, and did not wilt in the face of repeated drives before a relieving penalty sealed the points.
At the other end, Exeter’s earlier tries were more the result of graft than craft, as Ewers powered over on the back of pick-and-go surges and Slade’s score followed a close-range charge-down. Bath began by scoring a wonderful try when a Louis Schreuder ball to the left wing was batted back inside in one motion by Cameron Redpath for Cokanasiga to dive in.
And having forced their way back into the contest, they were rewarded when Annett, an early replacement after Tom Dunn was forced off following a failed head injury assessment, finished off a near fullteam maul to make things interesting.
But after three straight wins in the autumn, back-to-back Premiership defeats keeps Johann van Graan’s side down at the wrong end of table.