Bristol kept up the pressure on Gallagher Premiership leaders Bath with a 52-38 win over strugglers Exeter in a thrilling West Country derby.
The match saw 14 tries in total while 64 points were on the board before the interval, making it the highest scoring first half in Premiership history.
The hosts managed six tries to Exeter’s four in that 10-try period, with Bristol back rower Santiago Grondona also picking up a 30th-minute red card.
It took the Bears only 90 seconds to open the scoring when winger Jack Bates capitalised on Exeter making a mess of gathering the kick-off.
The Chiefs struck back almost immediately with a try by Martin Moloney off a line-out move, before centres James Williams and Henry Slade traded further tries to leave the scoreline 12-12 after nine minutes, with some people still taking their seats.
Fixture
Gallagher Premiership
Bristol
Exeter Chiefs
Bristol began to take a grip on the game as centre Benhard Janse van Rensburg – straight from the kick-off – and Williams added touchdowns to bring up the Bears’ bonus point inside the first 16 minutes.
Exeter, though, responded in style, with skipper Dafydd Jenkins crossing, moments after England back Slade had been poleaxed by a thunderous tackle from Fijian number eight Viliame Mata, which was ultimately deemed a legal tackle even though Slade went on to fail a head injury assessment.
However, Grondona was not so fortunate after a head-on-head tackle on Moloney, moments after Bates had scored his second try of the game and Bristol’s fifth, following a break from halfway after a line-out.
Grondona’s misdemeanour came in the build-up to a bonus-point try for the Chiefs from winger Josh Hodge after a lovely piece of work down the left-hand touchline.
Thirteen minutes then elapsed before Bristol rounded off the half with a sixth try through England scrum-half Harry Randall, with fly-half Harry Byrne slotting his fifth conversion of the contest to leave the Bears 40-24 ahead at the break.
It took Bristol only seven minutes of the second half to get the scoreboard rolling again, with replacement Steven Luatua forcing his way over from close range.
Bates then completed an impressive hat-trick with another run-in down the touchline to take the hosts past the half-century mark.
Club captain Jack Yeandle was a popular scorer of Chiefs’ fifth try as both sides started to tire, while centre Will Rigg managed a late consolation as the visitors chased an unlikely second bonus point.
