SIMMONDS KICKS EXETER TO ANGLO-WELSH GLORY

Bath 11 Exeter 28 Anglo Welsh final, Kingsholm

JOE SIMMONDS landed family bragging rights as he booted Exeter to the AngloWelsh Cup and virtually finished off Bath’s season.

The fly-half, 21, is the younger brother of England No.8 Sam and his 13 points helped Chiefs put away Bath, now left playing catch-up for a Premiership play-off spot.

Simmonds (right) kicked three penalties and two conversions as he made the most of his pack’s dominance and Chiefs’ rivals were warned they are not taking their foot off the gas.

Stand-in coach Ricky Pellow said: “It shows the strength in our squad that we can go from one Friday to this Friday, put out two different teams and still perform at the highest level. We are top of the league and have to be on the money going back into the Premiership. “We’ll celebrate this but we have to go again. We have got a hell of a push to maintain that top spot.” By the time Bath woke up they were 13-3 down and trailing 25-8 at the break they were toast. Two tries from Exeter hooker Jack Innard, one a typical Chiefs driving maul score, and the other from lock Toby Salmon made the game safe.

Bath improved in the second half, but it was too little and way too late.

Scorers: Bath: Try: Vuna; Pens: Burns (2); Exeter: Tries: Innard (2), Salmon; Cons: Simmonds (2); Pens: Simmonds (3)