Braves 36 Bristol 17

Exeter Braves 36

Bristol United 17

Mark Stevens at Sandy Park

Exeter Braves moved to the top of the Aviva A League Southern Group by powering past visiting Bristol United at Sandy Park.

Ricky Pellow's defending champions were the dominant force all evening, running in five tries through Michele Campagnaro, Damian Welch, Tom Johnson, Sam Simmonds and Shaun Malton. Fly-half Joe Simmonds weighed in with the remainder of the points to make it three wins on the bounce for the Braves.

In reply, Bristol bagged three tries of their own through Luke Arscott, Charlie Amesbury and Nick Koster, the first of which was converted by Callum Sheedy, but it was never enough against their Devon hosts.

After netting back-to-back victories in their past two Monday night engagements against Harlequins and Bath, it was another strong Braves line-up that took to the field for their final game of 2016.

England international Johnson skippered a pack that included experienced stars such as Moray Low, Damian Welch and Ben White, while behind Dave Lewis and Campagnaro were also given the chance to stake their claims for a place in this weekend’s match-day squad against Leicester Tigers.

Bristol themselves were also able to parade a more than useful looking outfit, which included former Chiefs duo Dan Tuohy and Arscott, while Samoan flyer David Lemi was another notable name on the left wing.

In a tight, cagey opening to the contest - one in which both sets of forwards were willing to bang lumps out of one another - it was the Braves who slowly clicked into gear. No.8 Johnson was the first to threaten down the left wing, only to be halted by a high tackle, then Joe Simmonds declined a kick at goal on the orders of his pack, who subsequently showed him what a bright decision that proved to be.

With the resultant line-out, the Exeter eight combined as one to push towards the line where, although halted by some stout Bristol defence, they recycled the ball to Campagnaro, who darted cleverly down the blind-side before powering his way over the line for the try, which was duly converted by fly-half Joe Simmonds.

Buoyed by the score, the Braves went in search of further reward and their efforts were assisted when Bristol lost hooker Marc Jones to the sin-bin for a professional foul. With the man advantage, the Braves kicked to the corner, won the resultant line-out, the fruits of which were harvested by Welch who steamrollered his way over from close range for the score.

The visitors looked to counter almost immediately, but Sheedy saw a long-range penalty drift wide of the mark, before the Braves struck for a third time on the half-hour mark.

Instigated by a great turnover from flanker White, the Braves powered through the middle through Tom Hendrickson, worked the ball through a succession of forward drives before Johnson took charge, accelerating at pace before powering his way over the line for the score, again converted by young playmaker Simmonds.

As the half drew towards a close, so Bristol finally began to show a bit of momentum in attack. A soft penalty award allowed them to keep deep into the Exeter 22 and from the resultant line-out, the visiting maul - aided by a number of backs, including Arscott - saw the centre dot down for the converted try.

HALF TIME EXETER BRAVES 19 BRISTOL UNITED 7

The opening five minutes of the second period had little to write home about as both teams looked to grab the initiative on the resumption, but the home crowd were finally awoken just two minutes later when the Braves grabbed the all-important fourth try of the game.

As Bristol looked to counter from midway inside their own half, Sheedy’s intended kick in behind was charged down, flanker Sam Simmonds was quickest to react on the loose ball and his clever footballing skills allowed him to hack forward before winning the race to the line. His younger brother, on his 20th birthday, dispatched the conversion to put Pellow’s side firmly in control of proceedings.

Bristol’s night would get no easier as they lost both Lemi and replacement Chris Brooker to nasty looking injuries, then Tuohy became the second visitor to be sent to the sidelines by referee Veryan Boscawen, the Irish international singled out for illegally sacking a Braves line-out just five metres out.

Immediately the hosts made their advantage tell, using the penalty to the corner to set up the tried-and-trusted line-out drive, which hooker Malton was on the end of to finish in style. Once more Simmonds converted with aplomb to put his side 33-7 to the good.

To their credit Bristol refused to throw in the towel, battling valiant against the home swell, and their efforts were finally rewarded when a slick handling move allowed winger Amesbury to finish off in the left-hand corner.

The Braves took the opportunity to blood a number of their up-and-coming youngsters in the latter stages, including young props Billy Keast and Marcus Street, while behind Joe Eldurkin was also given some valuable game time as a late change for Ted Landray.

However, they were unable to prevent the visitors from claiming a late consolation try, Koster the beneficiary of some strong work from his fellow forwards, flopping over from a close-range line-out drive.

The last work, though, belonged to the Braves and in the last action of the game, Simmonds put the seal on his side's victory, slotting a late penalty.

Exeter Braves: T Landray (J Elderkin 68); AJ Cant, M Campagnaro, T Hendrickson, H Strong; J Simmonds, D Lewis (H Thomas 61); M Low (B Keast 72), S Malton (J Innard 61), J Owlett (M Strreet 75); D Welch, S Skinner; B White (T Lawday 68), S Simmonds, T Johnson (capt). Replacement (not used): E Holmes.

Tries - Campagnaro, Welch, Johnson, S Simmonds, Malton; Conversions - J Simmonds (4); Penalty - J Simmonds

Bristol United: J Williams (J Newey 75); C Amesbury, J Tovey, L Arscott, D Lemi (E Caven 46); C Sheedy, A Uren (M Roberts 40); J O’Connell (O Dawe 73), M Jones, J Hall (A Clarey 54); BJ Edwards, D Tuohy (J Hawkins 70); J Joyce, N Fenton-Wells (capt, C Brooker 27-33, 40, J Capon 54), N Koster.

Tries - Arscott, Amesbury, Edwards; Conversion - Sheedy

Yellow Card: Jones, Tuohy

Referee: V Boscawen

Attendance 1,193