Exeter Chiefs coach Ali Hepher was delighted with his side’s 50-14 dismantling of Premiership rivals Bristol Bears on Friday night.

Both wings Olly Woodburn and Jack Nowell bagged braces on the night as the win powers Exeter to the summit of the Premiership standing.

Strong effort

Hepher admitted he could not be happier with his players after requesting a strong performance that his team well and truly delivered on.

“I asked the boys for a special performance and I knew they were mentally right and I couldn’t be more pleased with the whole 23 of them,” Hepher said.

“This season, we’ve built up good leads but have let sides back into it but there was none of that tonight as we kept working all the time.

“Big swings often take place around the half-time interval so we dug in very well and scrapped in the final five minutes of that first half to keep our line intact.

“In our game against Harlequins we switched off and became sloppy but we managed to handle really well tonight in the conditions and can get a lot better than that.”

Hepher picked out Woodburn and man of the match Jonny Gray as key performers on the night and praised their commitment and effort for Exeter.

“Olly is working really hard and is in the best condition I have ever seen him. It is a lesson to everyone that if you get yourself into really good nick, there is no limit to what you can achieve,” the Exeter coach said.

“Jonny is a fantastic worker and we missed a bit of that last week in our defeat at Sale. He may not be the fastest but he reads the game really well and gets in some good positions close to the ball.”

Poor discipline

Any chance of Bristol getting a foothold in the game was made difficult by two yellow cards to Ellis Genge and Piers O’Conor.

Bristol’s coach Pat Lam was disappointed with his side’s discipline and rued missed chances on the night.

Lam said: “We had our chances but we didn’t take them and it’s very difficult to win a match when you play 20 minutes with 14 men.

“It was just one of those nights, which was far from ideal, before a large home crowd. We just have to take it on the chin.

“It was a relentless effort from them in the second half and it took too much energy to keep them out.

“We dropped high balls and conceded a lot of penalties but we missed good chances when the score was 17-7 as we didn’t fire enough shots.”

Bristol captain Joe Joyce was left shocked by the result despite dominating the scrums and mauls.

“I’m not sure what happened as it’s hard to believe,” Joyce said.

“Against Exeter it’s normally a one-score game and the hardest thing is stopping them even though we know what’s coming.

“We had an advantage in the scrums and mauls but we still conceded 50 points.”

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