Emmanuel Feyi-Wabuso, Rafi Quirk, Billy Searle – Prem Talking Points

Exciting entertainment.

But when broken down in the cold light of a laptop by teams’ analysts, there may be more to cheer about the leaders than the champions.

Bath’s win was built on an early attack.

Four tries within the first 20 minutes gave them the closest attacking bonus point this season by some distance. All of the goals were against 14 men, after Exeter’s Campbell Riddell was shown a 20-minute red card for yanking opposing player Henry Arundel into the air.

When it went back to 15v15, comeback specialist Exeter were the better team, working their way to a draw from 26 points down.

Emmanuel Feyi-Waboso looked particularly impressive.

It is a testament to the quality of the 23-year-old that, despite being third in the league for yards made (530) and joint-leader for line breaks (17) before the game, he felt there was more to come from him.

On Saturday I arrived. He chased down Harvey Skinner’s kick-off early in the game and went on to beat 12 defenders, making 72 meters from his 12 carries. Strength, speed, determination, footwork – no one is harder to stop with the ball in hand in the league.

Elsewhere in the visitors’ ranks, Henry Slade put on a fine display of kicks and Tom Hooper and Greg Weselau were at the heart of a lively visiting group.

It was the first defeat after five successive Premier League wins for Exeter, but there were plenty of positives before Bristol arrived at Sandy Park on January 24 for the next round of Prem action.

After their agonizing home defeat to Northampton last weekend, there is still a feeling that Bath may not be quite as brilliant or fluid as they were 12 months ago.