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Jack Bates scores Bristol Bears’ first try – of eight – and the first of his hat-trick - Getty Images/Bob Bradford
Just another day in the utterly nutty world of Bristol Bears. This was pandemonium from start to finish: tries galore – a record-breaking 10 in the first half – end-to-end mania, a hat-trick and a red card to boot.
Sets were being adjusted, punters were chaotically checking that it was not April 1, but in the end the Bears prevailed, consolidating a top-two spot in the Premiership table. Does anyone know of any cool, dark rooms in Bristol? I need a lie down.
There are days when defence coaches watch from behind the sofa and then there was this. Ninety points in total and 14 tries, nine of which came inside the first half an hour – bonus points sewn up for both teams too – with five-point scores reducing in value as rapidly as Deutsch Marks in the Weimar Republic. Tackling was not optional; it became kryptonite. Ellis Genge, dropping out of the Bristol 23 on the morning of the match to welcome the birth of his daughter, his third child, must have been sitting at home wondering what on Earth was unfolding in his absence.
After the carnage between these two at Sandy Park last October – Bristol scored 28 points in the final 14 minutes to overturn a 20-point deficit – this sort of carry-on was written in the stars. The aggregate score between the two sides this season now reads an extraordinary 92-73 to Bristol.
The Bears, staggeringly, had their own try bonus point wrapped up in 15 minutes. It took slowcoaches Exeter a further 14 to secure their bonus. Keep up, lads. In the thick of Bristol bedlam, picking out shining lights was tough but Benhard Janse van Rensburg and James Williams in the midfield looked a cut above.
The madness began when Christ Tshiunza dropped the kick-off. From then, it took Bristol less than 90 seconds to get the ball on the try-line, the efficiency of which set the tone for the afternoon. Kalaveti Ravouvou caused the Chiefs problems down the left and when the ball was recycled, Jack Bates was there to dot down.
Jack Bates with the second fastest try of the season as @BristolBears fly out of the blocks at Ashton Gate️#GallagherPrem | #BRIvEXEpic.twitter.com/UBkvPr5oRe
— Rugby on TNT Sports (@rugbyontnt) March 22, 2025
Tom Cairns’s sumptuous timing of the pass sent Martin Moloney through close to a Bristol ruck as Exeter responded, but Joe Owens caught the ensuing restart and Williams was under the sticks in the blink of an eye.
Exeter Chiefs also find the tryline early
Martin Moloney flies under the posts to even it up.#GallagherPrem | #BRIvEXEpic.twitter.com/kHnprTy70q
— Rugby on TNT Sports (@rugbyontnt) March 22, 2025
Again, Exeter replied. Ben Coen, fresh out of a leading role with England’s under-20s during their own Six Nations, found Josh Hodge with a cross-field kick and the wing offloaded neatly for Henry Slade to score.
It was already silly, but following Slade’s score, Janse van Rensburg caught Bristol’s own restart and scooted away untouched for a try of his own. Bristol had their lead back and when Williams added a second after more good work from Ravouvou and Viliame Mata, that was the Bears’ bonus point secured with, astonishingly, just over a quarter of an hour played.
Exeter, after their Premiership Rugby Cup final defeat to Bath last Sunday, played their part in a spectacle with which the Chiefs might not have been traditionally associated. Paul Brown-Bampoe came close before Dafydd Jenkins, the Wales lock, muscled over from close range. In the build-up, Mata marmelised Slade (legally) with one of the hits of the season but moments later Santiago Grondona got it very wrong on Martin Moloney (illegally), with a clumsy head-on-head tackle. Grondona correctly saw red in what was a routine call for referee Karl Dickson.
Tries
Big hits
Cards
This game has everything!
And now it's a @premrugby first as Karl Dickson explains the Santiago Grondona red card decision to the spectators over the PA at Ashton Gate.#GallagherPrem | #BRIvEXEpic.twitter.com/20j1wZFZFl
— Rugby on TNT Sports (@rugbyontnt) March 22, 2025
By the time that Bristol were reduced to 14 – wing Ravouvou was also sacrificed for Steven Luatua to mitigate the back-row loss – Exeter had cut the deficit to nine thanks to an impressive solo try from Hodge cancelling out Bates’s second. Hodge’s scoring pass, fired by Coen, looked a metre forward but it would not really have been in the spirit of things to have called it back, would it?
Randall darted from the base to score the 10th try of the first half and give the Bears a 16-point half-time cushion after the wackiest half in this – or, probably, any – Premiership season.
Luatua crossed for Bristol’s seventh before Bates sealed his hat-trick in his 50th game for the club; the Bears’ third score with no reply while down to 14 players. Jack Yeandle and Will Rigg addressed Exeter’s second-half try drought late on but Bristol make merry in the madness and were always going to hold their nutty nerve.
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