Gabriel Ibitoye stars as ruthless Bristol Bears comeback to beat winless Exeter Chiefs

Bristol Bears beat Exeter Chiefs 40-35 at Sandy Park on Saturday in Round Four of the 2024/25 Gallagher Premiership

Bristol Bears went top of the Gallagher Premiership on Saturday after an eight-minute hat-trick by winger Gabriel Ibitoye saw the visitors produce a stunning comeback to beat Exeter Chiefs 40-35 at Sandy Park and extend their unbeaten away record to eight games on the bounce, stretching all the way back to last November.

The league's best travelling side looked dead and buried as Chiefs wingers Immanuel Feyi-Waboso and Paul Brown-Bampoe scored two tries apiece to put second-from-bottom Exeter 32-12 up with 18 minutes remaining and on the verge of their first win of the season. But a hugely costly yellow card for replacement hooker Dan Frost four minutes later, for stopping a tap penalty being taken quickly, saw Bristol score 28 points while he was off the pitch, running in four converted tries, with Ibitoye getting three of them.

READ MORE: Exeter Chiefs 35-40 Bristol Bears LIVE: Reaction and highlights from Sandy Park

The first-half story was about taking your chances, with the clinical Bears making two entries into Exeter’s 22 and coming away with touchdowns each time, whereas the Chiefs squandered several opportunities. Josh Hodge kicked Exeter into an early lead from a penalty, but Bristol got the first try of the game against the run of play when a blindside attack saw lock Joe Batley burst down the tramlines before putting scrum-half Kieran Marmion racing away for a try on a race start for the Irishman.

Former Chiefs lock Josh Caulfield was sin-binned four minutes later for a professional foul after a fine break by Olly Woodburn and Exeter did not take long to capitalise on their one-man advantage. A solid five-metre scrum on the right saw the ball moved swiftly to the left and a fine miss-pass by Harvey Skinner put winger Brown-Bampoe in for his first Premiership try as used his pace and power to get beyond Rich Lane.

England winger Feyi-Waboso came close to getting another soon after but knocked on Harvey Skinner’s cross-field kick after an aerial contest but instead it was the Bears who scored again from their second incursion into Exeter’s 22. After a stunning series of offload passes to move down the field, they pounded away on the left and created an overlap on the right where Benhard Janse van Rensburg put lock Batley over in the corner, with AJ MacGinty adding a superb touchline conversion.

With a minute to go to the break, though, the lead changed hands yet again, when Feyi-Waboso picked up the ball at a ruck with very little on and beat Jake Woolmore before handing off Janse van Rensburg and raced away in typical fashion to score beneath the posts, with Hodge’s simple conversion giving the Chiefs a 15-12 interval lead.

Hodge stretched the lead to six points and a blindside attack, capitalised thanks to the quick hands of new lock signing Franco Molina, saw Brown-Bampoe provide another excellent finish, with Hodge adding the extras for a 25-12 advantage.

Feyi-Waboso then grabbed his second from a 45-metre interception from a MacGinty pass and with Hodge again converting, Chiefs were almost out of sight at 32-12.

But Frost crazily got himself sin-binned and the Bears capitalised in typical fashion, with two tries in two minutes from Gabriel Oghre and Ibitoye, with the latter then adding another swiftly after and MacGinty converting all three for a 33-32 scoreline.

Hodge looked like he might have saved Chiefs’ blushes with a 75th-minute penalty to poke the Devon side back in front again, but more poor defensive work from Exeter saw Ibitoye race clear for his hat-trick score to send Bristol to the top of the table.

Exeter Chiefs: 15. Josh Hodge, 14. Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, 13. Olly Woodburn, 12. Joe Hawkins, 11. Paul Brown-Bampoe, 10. Harvey Skinner, 9. Sam Maunder; 1. Scott Sio, 2. Jack Yeandle (c), 3. Marcus Street, 4. Rusi Tuima, 5. Franco Molina, 6. Jacques Vermeulen, 7. Richard Capstick, 8. Ross Vintcent

Replacements: 16. Dan Frost, 17. Will Goodrick-Clarke, 18. Josh Iosefa-Scott, 19. Jack Dunne, 20. Ethan Roots, 21. Tom Cairns, 22. Ben Hammersley, 23. Greg Fisilau

Bristol Bears: 15. Rich Lane, 14. Jack Bates, 13. Joe Jenkins, 12. Benhard Janse van Rensburg, 11. Gabriel Ibitoye, 10. AJ MacGinty, 9. Kieran Marmion; 1. Jake Woolmore, 2. Gabriel Oghre, 3. Max Lahiff, 4. Josh Caulfield, 5. Joe Batley, 6. Steven Luatua, 7. Santiago Grondona, 8. Fitz Harding (c)

Replacements: 16. Will Capon, 17. Ellis Genge, 18. George Kloska, 19. James Dun, 20. Benjamin Grondona, 21. Harry Randall, 22. Sam Worsley, 23. Benjamin Elizalde

Referee: Matthew Carley

Assistant Referees : Craig Maxwell-Keys and Gareth Holsgrove

TMO: David Rose