England and Exeter number eight Sam Simmonds scored a crucial match-winning try against Bath on Friday night to deny the hosts their first win of the season.
The Chiefs were 16-13 down and had an attacking scrum in the final five minutes at The Rec when Simmonds used his devastating pace and power to score straight from the back of the set piece.
SAM SIMMONDS. INEVITABLE. 💥@ExeterChiefs pressure was RELENTLESS! Suffocating Bath’s admirable defense right down to the wire 😮💨
But when Sam Simmonds is in the mood, there’s just no stopping him! 😤
#GallagherPrem pic.twitter.com/s4FV7a1y9Z— Rugby on BT Sport (@btsportrugby) November 26, 2021
The following camera angle demonstrates just how quick Simmonds was from the back of the scrum and the 27-year-old now has 56 Premiership tries from 76 appearances.
Great camera angle . 🤯🤯🤯 Simmonds took 6 steps before the Bath backrow moved. #GallagherPrem #BATvEXE pic.twitter.com/HFa0YdViu6
— Brett Igoe (@brettruganalyst) November 27, 2021
Simmonds is now just three tries shy of Neil Back’s record as the Premiership’s top try-scoring forward and his brother Joe added a late penalty to secure a 16-23 win for the Chiefs.
Following the late win, Exeter director of rugby Rob Baxter, said: “If there’s something we need to address as a team it’s getting back to those fundamentals of what being a rugby player is about. It’s a privilege, and we should be enjoying coming in and training hard, getting on the bus together and enjoying playing games of rugby.
“We’ve probably become a little bit miserable if I’m honest with you. We’ve probably had a few years where winning against a bottom of the league side has become a bit regulation, and I think that’s part of the issue where we’re lacking a little bit of vibrancy.
“We’re not lacking heart though. There’s lots of little things, and part of it is just that vibrancy of playing rugby, but that’s there and I think that’s going to come.
“It’s not going to come overnight, we’re going to have to work at it over the next weeks and months.”
Simmonds now has nine caps for England and was a member of the British & Irish Lions squad that toured South Africa in 2021.
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