EXETER Chiefs moved to the top of the Gallagher Premiership table, if only for 24 hours, with a superb 24-14 victory at Bristol Bears last night.

The Chiefs once again showed their liking for Ashton Gate, where they won the European Champions Cup in 2020, with a bonus-point win to make it seven victories from their opening 10 matches of the league season to leave them on 33 points.

Their four tries came from tight-head prop Josh Iosefa-Scott, man-of-the-match winger Immanuel Feyi-Waboso-Waboso, scrum-half Stu Townsend and replacement back rower Jacques Vermeulen, with centre Henry Slade slotting two conversions.

Chiefs' director of rugby Rob Baxter said: "If you watch the game, you could see we could have grabbed more control of it really. We gave some soft midfield penalties, it's a bit of the bane of my life as a coach really, but the guys are fighting, they're working hard, they turned up and they worked hard from the off. 

"I'd actually said to myself weirdly in the changing room, 'if we didn't let Bristol score in the first 10 minutes, we'd win the game' and that's actually how it transpired. 

"We kept them at arm's length, we scored first, we looked like we'd turned up to play, our set piece turned up and that gets you in the game and when you're in the game and you're a good team, anything can happen.

"A five-point win away from home, you can't ask for more really. It keeps us pushing up the table and we're the first game of the weekend, so it pushes pressure onto other people and that's how you want things to go."

They have now won three away matches on the trot - two in the league and one against Toulon in Europe.

The Chiefs are next in action next Saturday when they entertain Northampton Saints in the Premiership.