Premiership Cup final: Exeter 14-48 Bath – Blue, Black and Whites end trophy drought

Bath upped the ante at half-time as they sent on three of their ‘bomb squad’ off the bench to bolster the front row – and their presence was immediately felt.

Their power quickly won a scrum penalty, which allowed them to pummel the Exeter line where replacement du Toit went over after 12 sapping phases.

The hosts had a second try chalked off by TMO when Josh Hodge put a foot over the left touchline at the start of a sweeping move which ended with Paul Brown-Bampoe’s excellent finish in the right corner.

It would prove a pivotal moment. Instead of cutting the gap to a single score, Exeter then watched the visitors move out of sight.

Home skipper Yeandle saw yellow for obstructing an almost certain Bath score, and from the sinbin watched his side cough up two scores.

Dunn burrowed through a small gap to stretch a long arm over the line, and the game was effectively up when Max Ojomoh was held up close to the line before captain Richards dived over from the resulting ruck.

Bath hooker Dunn, in his 14th season with the Somerset club, added further gloss with his second try, spinning through challenges and reaching for the line, before Schreuder’s dive for the corner gave Bath a fifth try of the half.

Exeter: Sio, Yeandle (c), Iosefa-Scott, Molina, Tshiunza, Roots, Vermeulen, Fisilau, Townsend, Skinner, Hodge, Tua, Hawkins, Brown-Bampoe, Wyatt.

Replacements: Frost, Blose, Street, Pearson, Capstick, Cairns, Haydon-Wood, Rigg.

Sin-bin: Yeandle (56).

Bath: Cordwell, Spandler, Verden, Jeanes, Richards (c), Green, Staddon, Barbeary, Carr-Smith, Donoghue, McConnochie, Butt, Redpath, Cokanasiga, Emens.

Replacements: Dunn, Obano, Du Toit, Reid, Pepper, Schreuder, Ojomoh, Coetzee.