Latest news with #PaulBrown-Bampoe
The Guardian
19-04-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
Leaders Bath hold out for win despite Brown-Bampoe double for Exeter
The perils of going too early. We should know by now that no game in this competition is ever dead until it is dead, so common is the comeback these days. But when Bath, league leaders, had the bonus point here by the half-hour mark – and a 26-10 lead to go with it – we did assume they were home and hosed. All the more so, given Exeter's low levels of confidence, not to mention their low position in the table, with only Newcastle below them. But the Chiefs would not let matters lie. Inspired by Paul Brown-Bampoe on the wing, they denied their high-flying visitors any points at all in the second half. Brown-Bampoe's double in the third quarter pulled them back to two points by the hour mark. Bath managed to hold out in a nervy final quarter, but the stuff of champions this was not. Whether the go-too-early formula will apply to their quest for a first Premiership title of the professional era remains to be seen. This win moves them 15 points clear at the top. They are not quite guaranteed a playoff spot, but with Newcastle visiting the Rec next week, that surely is only a matter of time. They are bursting with options, showing them off here by fielding a completely different pack from that which did for Gloucester last weekend in the Challenge Cup. Maybe that annoyed Exeter, but it may also have irritated some of those in attendance. Andy Farrell was watching, perhaps less as Lions coach, more on a little jaunt up the A38 from the family holiday home in South Devon. He was accompanied by his son (no, not that one), who is making his way through the Irish rugby set-up and may yet be on a future Lions coach's radar some day. Of more immediate interest to Farrell in a professional context is, of course, Finn Russell. At times, Bath's fly-half played as imperiously as ever, his sleight of hand releasing runners right left and centre into the tenderest parts of Exeter's defence. At others, he was loose and struggled as much as any in Bath ranks to regain control as the game threatened to slip away. After an opening quarter of only modest coherence, in which Exeter took the lead twice, either side of a penalty try for Bath, the visitors found their pitch in a devastating five-minute spell, in which they scored three tries to register the bonus point. Russell's hands released Max Ojomoh, who sent Tom de Glanville off to the corner. Josh Hodge's tackle saved the day that time, but Bath scored the first of those three tries, their second overall, from the resultant lineout, Neil Annett touching down at the back of the maul. Three minutes later, from a scrum on halfway, Russell looped Cameron Redpath to send De Glanville away. Miles Reid went close, but the ball came left. Russell fed a couple of front-row forwards, who expertly put Josh Bayliss over. Two minutes later again, Bayliss was galloping off from Redpath's inside ball, and Ben Spencer's brilliant pass on the run released Will Muir to the line. Sign up to The Breakdown The latest rugby union news and analysis, plus all the week's action reviewed after newsletter promotion Home and hosed? Not quite. Immanuel Feyi-Waboso may be one of a few of the Exeter injured, but Brown-Bampoe may yet interest Steve Borthwick as he casts around for candidates for England's summer tour. Exeter's winger finished a deadly counterattack, featuring a Josh Hodge break, 10 minute into the second half. And 10 minutes later, he finished after a break of his own, following up to accept Henry Slade's offload out of a tackle. That set up those nervy final stages. Bath held out. Job done, they will say. But they know only too well that early leads count for very little in these title races.
BBC News
10-02-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Cattle rues missed chances in Pirates' Exeter loss
Cornish Pirates joint-head coach Gavin Cattle says his side could have done better in their 43-7 Premiership Rugby Cup loss at Pirates trailed 10-7 at half-time before conceding six unanswered second-half tries as Chiefs winger Paul Brown-Bampoe crossed four times. It was a fifth loss out of five cup matches this season for the Championship side, who face league rivals Hartpury in their final pool game next week. "I think there were some big performances," Cattle told BBC Radio Cornwall."I just thought in that first half we had the elements and I thought we dictated field position, just didn't convert the pressure into points."The boys got ripped into a little bit at half-time but it wasn't an effort thing, it was more of an execution thing."You know against a team like Exeter if you don't execute in that final third, you're going to come a cropper second half, and their pressure told in that second half." Pirates' injury-hit squad was further depleted with Iwan Jenkins and Tomi Agbongbon both going off with head says he will look to try to bolster his squad in the coming week with most of his dual-registered players being recalled by their Premiership parent clubs."I don't think it's a secret that we're struggling a little bit with injuries so it'll be another week where we need to get through this Premiership Cup to be honest because we need a bit of time to recoup and regenerate."But we look at this Premiership Cup period and the couple of weeks off that we want to grow as a team."There's a lot of new faces in there, it feels like we have to do another pre-season to be honest."We're trying to keep our eye on the bigger picture but it doesn't help when the injury list is piling up a little bit. We'll do what's controllable and we'll do our best to get out of the situation."
BBC News
09-02-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Exeter & Newcastle seal cup quarter-final spots
Exeter Chiefs and Newcastle Falcons sealed quarter-final places in the Premiership Rugby Cup as they both made it five wins out of five in the group beat Cornish Pirates 43-7 to ensure they finish top of Pool E, while Newcastle dominated Caldy 73-12 to go through as Pool A join fellow Premiership sides Bath and Harlequins in the last eight with the final four places to be determined next Caldy and fellow Championship side Cornish Pirates will both finish bottom of their groups having lost all five Exeter and Newcastle struggling in the Premiership, their cup form has been Sandy Park Paul Brown-Bampoe starred for the hosts, scoring four tries, including a hat-trick after the break as Exeter pulled clear from their 10-7 half-time Capstick, Tommy Wyatt and Ethan Roots also went over for Rob Baxter's side, with Tom Georgiou scoring Pirates' only try in the first completely outclassed their lower league opponents, running in 11 tries at Kingston took a surprise lead through Will Robinson, but from then on Falcons took complete control with Jamie Blamire, Nathan Greenwood, Freddie Lockwood and Joe Davis all crossing from Adam Brocklebank, Connor Doherty and Reuben Parsons completed the rout.
