JUST IN case anyone was tempted to think it, this season’s Premiership won’t be a procession for Bristol.
The Bears might have begun this match 12 points clear of Exeter at the summit of the league, but the Chiefs smothered Bristol’s attacking enterprise with a display founded on relentless competitiveness over the ball.
Rob Baxter remarked afterwards that he felt his side had “tied our whole game together beautifully”, and there was indeed beauty to be found amid the Chiefs’ targeted aggression.
Bristol, for their part, usually paint pictures of sporting beauty courtesy of their back line’...