It was a win the Bears deserved as they inflicted a first home defeat of the season on the Devonians.
Press Association Sport Reporters
18:59, 25 Jan 2026Updated 18:59, 25 Jan 2026
Final whistle celebrations for Fitz Harding, Captain of Bristol Bears with Gabriel Oghre of Bristol Bears during the Gallagher PREM match between Exeter Chiefs and Bristol Bears at Sandy Park, Exeter, Devon on 24th January 2026. Photo: Phil Mingo/PPAUK(Image: Phil Mingo/PPAUK)
Bristol Bears director of rugby Pat Lam expressed how proud he was of his players after they made it eight wins out of nine in all competitions with an 8-3 Gallagher Prem victory at Exeter Chiefs.
It was a win the Bears deserved as they inflicted a first home defeat of the season on the Devonians.
“We have put a lot of work in to win eight out of nine in a block of five Prem and four European games, and we were gutted to lose to Bordeaux last week as well, and it is a tremendous effort by the team – players, coaches and staff,” Lam said.
“We knew today was another final for us because Exeter hadn’t lost at home this season and Rob Baxter has done a great job once again to get them back to where they are now, and during this run we have shown we can adapt to any sort of conditions.
“I told Steve Lansdown (owner) today that it was not going to be pretty but we would fight for everything for a win, and I was so proud of the boys because that is exactly what we did.
“We made 155 tackles and the boys only missed nine, and that shows desire and character, and I am very proud of their efforts.”
(Image: Getty Images)
Exeter Chiefs director of rugby Rob Baxter was philosophical in defeat.
“We put an awful lot physically into the game and I think they made plenty of mistakes, we made plenty of mistakes, and probably their mistakes have hurt them less than ours did,” he said.
“Sometimes games can be like that. The set piece was fiercely contested and pretty even, we had a good game plan in regards to getting territory, but then we didn’t quite finish things off, and Bears defended their line really, really strongly.
“They missed a kick at goal, we missed a kick at goal, and maybe we possibly should have taken another kick at goal later on when we tried to drive the ball down in the corner, which would have just nudged us ahead and kept that bit of pressure off us.
“But I am not going to sit and try and break the game down too much, I thought we worked extremely hard in tough conditions against a full-on Bears team, whereas we lost Tom Hooper (knee) early on to an injury, we had Stephen Varney (groin) pull out fairly late on and we have got Len Ikitau out at the minute, so we weren’t quite at the level they are with players on the pitch, and it probably just told in the end.”
Regarding Australia international back rower Hooper, Baxter added: “Hopefully it is a relatively minor ligament injury and not a season-ender as he is obviously a very important player for us but we will have to wait and see what the scan says.”