Hipkiss: Making an impact for Bath
Related links
Teams
Also see
Exeter's unbeaten run was brought to a halt on Saturday when they were beaten 23-19 by Bath at the Recreation Ground.
Ian McGeechan's men bounced back from last week's agonising loss at home to Saracens in best possible way by beating the high-flying Chiefs.
Bath scored the only tries of the game in open play, both coming in the second half after Bath managed to inject more pace into their game.
The first half had been dominated by Exeter's scrum, Duncan Bell and the Bath front row enduring a difficult time at the hands of the Chiefs on the tighthead's 200th appearance for the club.
But the Devonians were unable to translate that forward platform into try scoring opportunities and Bath actually went into the break leading 9-6 following three Sam Vesty penalties to Ignacio Mieres' two.
The Chiefs were eventually awarded a penalty try after imposing sustained pressure on the Bath set-piece right at the death, which made for a nervy final minute for the home side.
However Bath probably deserved to just shade the game after producing the best attacking moments, England international Nick Abendanon setting off on a number of his trademark runs despite the slippery conditions underfoot.
But it was Dan Hipkiss who sprinted over for the game's first try following a superb 55-metre solo run, handing off two would-be Exeter tacklers in the process.
Nathan Catt supplied the second try when he burrowed over from close range to put what turned out to be enough daylight between the sides.
The scorers:
For Bath:
Tries: Hipkiss, Catt
Cons: Vesty 2
Pens: Vesty 3
Exeter Chiefs:
Tries: Penalty try
Cons: Mieres
Pens: Mieres 4
Bath: 15 Nick Abendanon, 14 Matt Carraro, 13 Dan Hipkiss, 12 Ben Williams, 11 Tom Biggs, 10 Sam Vesty, 9 Mark McMillan, 8 Ben Skirving, 7 Guy Mercer, 6 Carl Fearns, 5 Ryan Caldwell, 4 Stuart Hooper (capt), 3 Duncan Bell, 2 Pieter Dixon, 1 David Flatman.
Replacements: 16 Ross Batty, 17 Nathan Catt, 18 Kane Palma-Newport, 19 Dave Attwood, 20 Andy Beattie, 21 Michael Claassens, 22 Tom Heathcote, 23 Jack Cuthbert.
Exeter Chiefs: 15 Phil Dollman, 14 Nic Sestaret, 13 Bryan Rennie, 12 Jason Shoemark, 11 Matt Jess, 10 Ignacio Mieres, 9 Haydn Thomas, 8 James Phillips, 7 James Scaysbrook, 6 Tom Johnson, 5 Peter Short, 4 Tom Hayes (capt), 3 Hoani Tui, 2 Chris Whitehead, 1 Brett Sturgess.
Replacements: 16 Neil Clark, 17 Ben Moon, 18 Chris Budgen, 19 Aly Muldowney, 20 Ben White, 21 Kevin Barrett, 22 Gareth Steenson, 23 Mark Foster.
Referee: David Rose
Comments
APV1 says...
Highlights don't ever do the game justice. I, for one, am well pleased with the result, regardless of the manner in which we get it!
Bath for the Top 4!
Posted 11:57 19th September 2011
jamesliveinhope says...
Score not a true reflection of the game - Exeter turned up to try and dog a result and the weather seemed to play into their hands. Truth was their scrum was all they had (what with a couple of key men missing) and it wasn't til the pen try (which would have been generous at any other stage of the game) that they had been any where near the Bath tryline.
Posted 20:30 17th September 2011