Bath held off a furious comeback from Exeter, led by the irrepressible Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, to avenge their Gallagher Prem semi-final defeat here in June.

It felt as if lightning might strike Bath twice. Once again Exeter overturned a 26-10 half-time deficit, to manufacture a second-half lead thanks to a pair of blistering finishes by Feyi-Waboso. Four months ago, Bath failed to take a drop goal in the closing stages, but this time with the reassuring presence of Finn Russell at fly-half, they kept their cool.

The Scotland playmaker twice sent penalties deep into the Exeter 22 from where Stephen Varney conceded a yellow card and penalty try before Bath replacement Ted Hill powered through a thicket of Exeter tacklers.

“Finn is one of the best 10s in the world and I thought he had a very good game,” Johann van Graan, the Bath head of rugby, said.…