Bath missed a golden opportunity to climb to the top of the Premiership table, falling to a dominant 35-12 defeat at the hands of Exeter Chiefs in a match that had major playoff implications.

Playing for the first time since club members approved an American-backed takeover, Exeter came out firing. The Chiefs were already 6-0 up when Bath's Quinn Roux received a 20-minute red card for a head-on-head collision with Henry Slade. Exeter capitalized immediately, with Josh Iosefa-Scott powering over from close range after Len Ikitau's dazzling line break.

But Bath showed tremendous resilience playing a man down. Former Exeter favorite Dan Frost responded for the visitors, steering a driving maul over the line to keep the champions within striking distance at halftime, trailing by just eight points.

The second half was a tale of two sin-bins. Exeter's Paul Brown-Bampoe extended the lead just five minutes after Bath's Tom de Glanville was sent to the bin, touching down in the left corner for his 10th try of the season. But Bath refused to buckle again—when Exeter's Campbell Ridl was yellow-carded for a head clash with Finn Russell, England international Sam Underhill powered over from a close-range lineout to keep Bath in the hunt.

However, Exeter's Australian star Len Ikitau put the game to bed with 15 minutes remaining, before Ridl atoned for his earlier sin-bin by sprinting over with five minutes left to secure a bonus-point victory. It was Exeter's first league win over Bath since December 2022, lifting them five points clear of Bristol into fourth place.

For the reigning champions, this was a missed opportunity. With Northampton suffering a heavy derby loss to Leicester on Saturday, Bath could have leapfrogged the Saints into first place. Instead, they remain in second, two points adrift, left to rue what might have been on a windy afternoon at Sandy Park.