Bristol Bears beat Exeter Chiefs 20-7 at Ashton Gate on Saturday night in Round Four of the 2026/27 Gallagher PREM

Bristol Bears showed they can win on a wet, cold night at Ashton Gate on Saturday as they battled to a 20-7 win against last season’s beaten finalists Exeter Chiefs to move into the top four.

It was a case of Deja vu for Bristol Bears and Exeter Chiefs on Saturday evening. The last time these two sides faced each other it was in the eye of a storm, Ingrid then, Austen today. Down at Sandy Park back in January, the Bears scrapped to an 8-3 victory in their last good performance of that campaign as Bristol’s season badly tailed off after the Six Nations.

The grit, desperation and determination they showed that day saw Pat Lam’s side win ugly.

Nine months later, all that character was still there, but they won it be outthinking the visitors from Devon.

Harry Randall and AJ MacGinty were masterful in their positioning of the Bears, pinning them back deep into their half for the majority of the contest, with even aerial master Olly Woodburn faltering under the constant bombardment from the air, and then ground assault, led by Tom Jordan’s wonderfully wild and desperate kick chase.

Making ground with the ball in hand was almost impossible for either side, with the ball like a bar of soap in the constant downpour.

But in the 26th minute, having been camped in the visitors’ half for the majority of the contest, Bristol finally trusted their skillset, honed by each player having a thousand touches a week in training. Randall chanced his arm with a 20m wide arcing pass out to Ibitoye, who looked well marked by Sam Wolstenholme, but fooled his former teammate with an explosive stutter step to beat him on the outside in the left-hand tram lines and dive into the corner.

Jimmy Williams snuck his conversion inside the far upright and added a penalty three minutes later to make it 10-0 at half time.

In the second half, Chiefs looked brighter, sharper, smarter, utilising their powerful mauling game to win penalties, which in turn brought some rare field position. And eventually the maul, with three backs coming in to add heft, delivered three points with Greg Fisilau touching down.

With 27 minutes left to play, and momentum tilting in Chiefs’ favour with the scores at 10-7, it was game on.

But Bristol came up with the goods in the big moments, with the Bears pack managing to stop a drive from the Chiefs pack deep in their 22, forcing the ball out to the backs where Ben Hammersley was chopped down with a low sliding tackle to allow Ibitoye to jackal over the ball to win a penalty for not releasing.

Moments later, a Woodburn faltered under a high up-and-under, and chaser Ibitoye was on the spot to hack the ball on and go close to scoring himself before Luka Ivanishvili drove over from close range to seal the win.

Bristol Bears : 15. Tom Jordan, 14. Louis Rees-Zammit, 13. Matias Moroni, 12. James Williams, 11. Gabriel Ibitoye, 10. AJ MacGinty, 9. Harry Randall; 1. Ellis Genge, 2. Tomas Gwilliam, 3. Lovejoy Chawatama, 4. Pedro Rubiolo, 5. Joe Batley, 6. Steven Luatua, 7. Fitz Harding (c), 8. Benjamin Grondona

Replacements: 16. Sol Moody, 17. Jake Woolmore, 18. Jimmy Halliwell, 19. Josh Caulfield, 20. Joe Owen, 21. Kieran Marmion, 22. Jack Bates, 23. Luka Ivanishvili

Exeter Chiefs: 15. Olly Woodburn, 14. Zack Wimbush, 13. Henry Slade, 12. Will Butt, 11. Ben Hammersley, 10. Harvey Skinner, 9. Sam Wolstenholme, 1. Nika Abuladze, 2. Jack Yeandle, 3. Josh Iosefa-Scott, 4. Tom Hooper, 5. Dafydd Jenkins (c), 6. Ethan Roots, 7. Ross Vintcent, 8. Greg Fisilau

Replacements : 16. Max Norey, 17. Ethan Burger, 18. Jimmy Roots, 19. Harry Wilson, 20. Kane James, 21. Stephen Varney, 22. Will Haydon-Wood, 23. Sam Harris

Referee: Karl Dickson

ARs : Sara Cox and Richard Gordon

TMO: Dan Jones