Fourteen-man Exeter tuned up for their season-defining Heineken Champions Cup semi-final against La Rochelle next weekend with an impressive 22-21 comeback Gallagher Premiership win against Bristol.
The downside for Chiefs is they will be heading to Bordeaux without upcoming lock star Dafydd Jenkins, who was red-carded in the 17th minute for a high tackle on Max Lahiff with the game scoreless.
But the hosts stayed in the fight with tries from departing club greats Ian Whitten and Dave Ewers, and another for Josh Iosefa-Scott, to allow Joe Simmonds to land a 78th-minute penalty to win it.
Bristol scored tries through George Kloska, Joe Jenkins and Yann Thomas, all converted by Callum Sheedy, but it proved to not be enough.
Saturday signalled the end of an era for Exeter as Stuart Hogg, Ewers, Whitten, Joe and Sam Simmonds started their final game for Chiefs, headlining 19 departures from the club come the end of the season, including Exeter’s first British and Irish Lion Jack Nowell, who missed the Premiership tie with a knee issue.
Despite plenty of attacking endeavour, the game was scoreless after 17 minutes until Wales international Jenkins was shown yellow for an upright face-on-head tackle on Bristol tighthead Lahiff, which cut him and saw his match end early.
After close examination from the TMO, referee Craig Maxwell-Keys flashed red to Jenkins and moments later Lahiff’s replacement Kloska powered over from short range.
Bristol then wasted a number of chances to extend their lead and Exeter rallied having been thrashed after going a man down six days ago in Leicester.
The Bears repeatedly lost their discipline to allow the hosts to kick deep into their opponents’ 22 and Whitten and Ewers, as both have so many times over the last decade, found their way over the whitewash from close range.
Bristol were first to strike after the break as James Williams exposed Joe Simmonds’ weakness in defence by running through the fly-half before playing in Jenkins to race home under the sticks.
The Bears’ third score was less dramatic, but seemingly crucial as Yann Thomas powered through a gap at the edge of a ruck to put the visitors beyond one score.
But a dropped lineout from Bears lock Joe Batley gifted Chiefs a way back into the game as replacement Exeter tighthead Iosefa-Scott gathered the bouncing ball and powered over to make it a two-point game.
And with the weather worsening it was a scrum penalty that earned another departing Exeter great, Joe Simmonds, the chance to slot a 30-metre kick to earn a memorable win and send the home fans into raptures.
