Keast and Hogg lead Exeter to win over Bath to boost top-four hopes

Rob Baxter said Exeter were ‘getting towards last chance saloon’ in the run-up to this pulsating victory against an ever-improving Bath. Although the hosts eventually ground out a bonus-point success on a cold, bright day in Devon, the ultimate outcome of their bid for the playoffs remains out of their hands. Second-half tries by Billy Keast, Stuart Hogg and Santiago Grondona decisively put an end to Bath’s resistance, while their top-four rivals Gloucester were defeated at home by Wasps. Welcome news for the Exeter fans, although Gloucester’s two matches in hand may yet prove decisive. For Exeter, a club that have finished in the Premiership’s top two for each of the past six seasons, including a hat-trick of first-place finishes from 2018-2020, it is unwelcome territory.

Baxter said this week he is open to talking to the RFU regarding Eddie Jones’s succession, and if he does become involved with England, he may consider some of the young Bath players who chucked the ball around with such enthusiasm at Sandy Park. At 22, Tom de Glanville looks increasingly likely to graduate to the senior international side, while the 30-year-old Jonathan Joseph is consistently displaying the kind of awareness and creativity that Jones’s England midfield is crying out for. Exeter’s Henry Slade was absent here due to a mandatory rest break, along with the No 8 Sam Simmonds, and Baxter will be heartened by the scoring of six tries in their absence.

Bath’s Sam Underhill, meanwhile, was sublime in attack and defence and created two tries in the first half. He set the tone for another eye-catching afternoon after receiving an offload from Max Clark and calmly passing to Joe Cokanasiga who touched down the opening try. That came after Exeter