Bath Rugby supporter Glyn Edwards gives his take on events at The Rec...
A flawless kicking display from the tee by George Ford ultimately denied Exeter Chiefs in their latest attempt to overcome their closest Aviva Premiership neighbours and claim the last remaining elite scalp not yet taken by the Sandy Park tribe.
While Ford did fluff one second-half punt which went directly into touch when it wasn't intended to, the rest of his performance could reasonably be described as almost flawless as well – especially as he also produced that rarest of Bath scores in recent years, a successful drop-goal attempt.
Despite scoring two enterprising second-row scores which owed nothing at all to drives from 5m lineouts, the Chiefs presented Ford with sufficient opportunities to nail the win with his right boot, which proved unerringly accurate on the day.
Had Gareth Steenson been able to match the home fly-half's infallibility in his own kicking performance then Exeter's dominance in the first-half might well have been rewarded with the first victory over Bath in 35 years that their supporters – at least – crave for so hungrily.
Rob Baxter might try to play down quite how firmly this particularly irritating monkey sits on the back of his players, but the manner in which Exeter set about their task of removing it from the very first whistle on Saturday rather suggests that his team are just as eager as their followers to be rid of it.
In several of their impressive or at least convincing victories this season Bath have made something of a habit of establishing a first-half superiority that they have then struggled to reinforce after the break – at home against Leicester, London Irish, and Exeter in the LV= Cup, for example.
But even the most ardent Bath supporters would have been hard-pressed to convince themselves that Exeter were not ahead 'on points on the judges' scorecards' if not on the scoreboard by half-time, and despite enjoying the narrowest of leads it was the home side that had to return to the field with a determination to improve.
The fact that they were able to do so, and go toe-to-toe with opponents whose energy and intensity only flagged when the pace of the game eventually caught up with both sides in the final quarter, spoke volumes for Bath's mental stamina.
This was a contest that Bath would have lost until quite recently, and the squad has definitely gained something more than just the obvious increase in quality and strength in depth that have been widely recognised by most pundits this season.
Those extra attributes – difficult to define, but easy to appreciate – have been welcome additions to the collective armoury, as has the well-founded confidence which such a successful first third of the season has justifiably produced.
After the rather less-challenging back-to-back meetings with the Italian side Mogliano – and the distraction of Christmas shopping in Venice - in the return of the Amlin Challenge Cup for the next two weekends, it is back to domestic matters with a really loud bang over the festive season.
In what is likely to be our toughest Premiership mini-schedule of this or any other season we face three of the other four teams in the top six – Quins, Saints and Tigers - in a little over a fortnight, having just beaten Devon's sixth-placed Chiefs.
Such a run of games will no doubt severely test Bath's play-off credentials, but a far from unrealistic return of eight or nine points would leave us very handily-placed before league action re-commences in February alongside the international tribal warfare of the 2014 Six Nations.
Grand Slam, or Wooden Spoon, anyone?
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