Bristol vs Exeter Chiefs Prediction: Bears to add to Exeter’s away woes

Exeter are brilliant at home but less successful on the road, making them vulnerable when they head up the M5 to face Bristol on Friday.

The Bears gave their fans some Christmas cheer with a 21-13 win at Newcastle and have been generally good at Ashton Gate, winning their last two matches by the Avon.

Exeter impressed in beating Leicester 29-10 in the last round and will go top with a win at Bristol.

However, while they are now 23 unbeaten at Sandy Park, they have only won once away from home in the league this season and might find themselves on the wrong end of the scoreline in their final game of 2023.

Team News

Steve Luatua will captain Bristol, with usual skipper Fitz Harding out through injury and replaced by Dan Thomas, while Gabriel Oghre is at hooker in place of the absent Harry Thacker.

Noah Heward is given the nod on the right wing and forms a speedy back three alongside Max Malins and Rich Lane and the Bears could hand a Premiership debut to Joe Owen, who provides cover in the back-row.

Exeter have made several changes to their starting line-up, with prop Nika Abuladze, lock Rusi Tuima and back-row Ross Vintcent selected in the pack.

Scrum-half Stu Townsend partners fly-half Harvey Skinner, Feyi-Waboso and Olly Woodburn come into the side on the wings and Ben Hammersley starts at full-back.

Match Odds

Bristol are 1/2 to claim a fourth home win of the season in all competitions, while the Chiefs are 7/4 to grab a rare road success. The tie is 20/1.

Bristol are 5/6 on a -4.5 handicap, a number they comfortably eclipsed in their home league wins against Leicester and Gloucester.

Bristol to win by 1-12 points inclusive @ 15/8

It promises to be an excellent atmosphere at Ashton Gate, with Bristol confirming that 23,000 tickets have been sold and the club revealing that they are expecting, in their words, a ‘Christmas Cracker’.

After a couple of stop-start seasons, Pat Lam’s side are coming good and a win here could see them move up to fifth in the table ahead of the weekend’s action.

That will still be short of the fourth-placed Chiefs, who have collected 28 points to Bristol’s 21 and have both the best attacking and defensive records in the Premiership.

They also won November’s reverse game at Sandy Park 29-20 but it is telling that only four of their 28 points have been collected away from home, with that success being up at winless Newcastle.

Rob Baxter’s men did grab a last-gasp Champions Cup victory earlier this month at Toulon but are still looking for a way to translate their remarkable form at Sandy Park into something similar away from home.

Roared on by a raucous home crowd, their biggest in three years, the Bears can boost their playoff hopes with a battling win, with a similar margin of victory in the home side’s favour to the reverse match a real possibility.

Check out the rest of our Rugby Union Betting Tips here.