Exeter kicked off and Bristol cleared to touch for the opening lineout.  Bristol were penalised and the kick from Exeter went down almost to the Bristol five metre line.  Exeter drove close from the lineout but the Bristol defence held firm before Exeter were given the scrum.  Inevitably, this proved a scrappy affair and was reset a couple of times along with a brief bout of fisticuffs.  Eventually the ball went back into play and we were treated to a poor drop goal effort from Scayesbrook.  However, he was aware that advantage was being played and Exeter led 3 - 0 from the simple penalty kick.

Bristol attempted to put some pressure on the hosts, with Luke Arscott prominent despite receiving a classic hospital pass.  Sadly a penalty went Exeter's way, only for Redford Pennycook to steal the resulting lineout to let Bristol off the hook.  Bristol edged into the Exeter half and forced a penalty right in front of the posts to allow Adrian Jarvis to equalise the score.  Exeter struck back and were awarded a penalty of their own that was kicked to touch.  Again they went for the catch-and-drive.  Bristol managed to halt this move but Exeter held onto possession and moved the point of attack from side to side as they sought a way through.  Bristol were rightly penalised as Junior Fatialofa came up far too quickly against his former team, taking out his opposite number without the ball.  He made the walk of shame as the straightforward penalty sailed over for the lead of 6 - 3.

With Bristol down to 14 men it was the ideal time for Exeter to continue to control territory and possession.  However, Bristol stole another Exeter lineout and were able to mount an attack of their own.  The ball went to Larscott who went desperately close before Exeter were penalised.  As is now common, Bristol went for touch rather than take the points on offer.  Bristol went through the phases close to the Exeter five metre line but were penalised for holding on.  Exeter failed to control their lineout and Jarvis made a dangerous kick that forced a 22 drop out.  Exeter contained this brief Bristol danger and thing took a worrying turn for the visitors when the reliable Larscott was injured in the act of fielding an Exeter kick and had to be replaced by brother Tom just as Fatialofa returned from the naughty step.

This was the cue for Bristol to win another lineout and a miss pass to set Tarscott free.  He fixed the defence to create the space for ‘winger' David Blaney to scoot in untouched out wide.  Jarvis made no mistake, so it was 6 - 10, rather against the run of play.  Would Bristol allow a quick riposte as they so often do?  A poor Lee Robinson clearance allowed Exeter to put Bristol back under pressure.  Good defence forced the turnover but Jarvis' clearance was nearly as poor as Robinson's.  A forward drive had Bristol in trouble and they resorted to pulling the maul down.  The resulting penalty went to touch and again the Exeter pack drove close before a knock-on allowed Bristol a respite.  Exeter continued to pound away at Bristol before another penalty kick went to touch.  However, Exeter's problems at the lineout led to a knock-on.

Some inconclusive kicking followed this let-off for Bristol before Jason Spice ran the ball into touch.  Lineout frailties were again exposed with Exeter knocking-on.  Jarvis kicked to touch to force Exeter further back.  Finally Exeter won the ball from their own throw in, albeit rather insecurely, and moved back into the attack before kicking the hard won possession away.  This led to another frustrating kicking duel before Dan Norton got the ball to touch.  Exeter worked their way patiently into the Bristol 22 with the half drawing to a close.  Bristol defended manfully as Exeter strove to break the line and were just able to hold out with the half concluding without any further score.

The score failed to reflect Exeter's territorial dominance for much of the half, although it was fair to say that Bristol had made the most of their few opportunities.  We were poised for an interesting second half.

The half commenced with Bristol taking play to Exeter before Spice kicked out on the full to hand the advantage back to the hosts.  Exeter looked more secure in the lineout but kicked down to Tarscott who promptly returned the ball to where the whole thing had started!  Eventually Exeter fashioned a decent move but promptly knocked-on.  Another fractious scrum ensued but Bristol were able to win clean ball that allowed Tarscott to make an excellent break that was well supported by Fatialofa.  A Bristol scrum saw Jack Adams make an initial break to set up a good field position on the Exeter 22.  Robinson came into the line but knocked the ball on.  Once again this led to some sloppy kicking from both teams before Bristol were caught in possession to hand Exeter an eminently kickable penalty.  There was no error and Exeter were within one point of Bristol at 9 - 10 with ten minutes of the half gone.

This looked a bit like the first half with one team dominating but the other able to make chances count.  Bristol had other ideas though and tried to wrest the initiative back.  A long pass out from Spice found Tarscott racing on and he made, as last week, the slightest show of the ball to dummy the defender.  He had the pace to race in at the corner for an unconverted try but a 9 - 15 lead.  Amazingly Bristol scored again virtually from the restart.  A neat kick from Spice was totally misread by the Exeter side and it allowed Roy Winters to pounce with the defence completely disorganised.  Jarvis was unfortunately off target with his conversion attempt but the score was suddenly 9 - 20, much to the Bristol supporters' joy.

Bristol went looking for the bonus point try in a rather frantic passage of play.  A lack of patience saw Jarvis knock-on after good lineout play.  Exeter took advantage of this lack of precision to take play up to the visitors' 22.  Bristol defended stoutly as Exeter took the ball through several phases before winning a penalty.  Taking a leaf from the Bristol playbook they went for touch and drove from the lineout.  The pack forced their way close to the Bristol line before Bristol turned over possession and hoofed the ball up the pitch.  Redford Pennycook broke clear and looped a pass out to Adams who failed to hold onto the ball.  Another bout of aimless kicking followed before Norton calmed things with a fine touchfinder.  The lineout proved a scrappy thing with Bristol looking to put Exeter under pressure.  The ball was knocked on and the scrum looked powerful from Bristol.  The award of a penalty was a reward for good aggressive play from the Bristol pack.  The reward was even greater as the forwards drove from the lineout and crossed in a heap for the bonus point try, given to James Phillips.  Jarvis failed again with the boot but Bristol held a 9 - 25 lead.

Exeter made several replacements in an effort to salvage the situation.  They got back hold of the ball and maintained control to take play into the Bristol 22.  Former Bristol player Danny Gray freed up Sestaret to romp in under the posts for an easily converted try.  Complacent defence had transformed a comfortable looking lead into a far less comfortable one of 16 - 25.  This presaged a tense five or so minutes for Bristol.  Exeter, in turn, sensed that a losing bonus point was certainly achievable, perhaps even a win.

Bristol were penalised and Gray went for touch.  The pack drove the ball towards the Bristol line and a tremendous struggle ensued as Bristol battled to keep them out.  Spice halted an attempt to break round the back of the maul and had the wit and strength to turn his man in the tackle.  This allowed Bristol to escape the Exeter stranglehold for a while.  Exeter were determined to take something from the game and came at Bristol again.  With time against them, they had the patience and strength of will to hold onto possession instead of attempting a desperate or ill-considered move.  Finally, in the face of obdurate Bristol defence, patience cracked and a rash crossfield kick was launched, only to be well fielded by Robinson.  He demonstrated the other side of his kicking game with a powerful clearance.  Indeed this might have led to another try for Bristol as Norton sprinted after the ball.  He was unable to control the ball and Exeter were spared the injustice of conceding fifth try.  Even now Exeter struggled to score with just seconds remaining.  Bristol's defence held firm and Blaney was able to kick to touch as the defensive effort forced an Exeter turnover. 

So Bristol avenged their earlier defeat and take over from Exeter at the top of the league. When we played Exeter at the Mem I felt that Bristol could improve but that Exeter were playing at or near the top of their game, perhaps I was right, or perhaps Exeter have just had a bit of a dip in recent matches.  Of course, as has been said before, it all counts for nothing when we move towards the ludicrous play-offs.

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