EXETER Chiefs served notice of their attacking intent as they opened their Premiership Rugby Cup campaign with a convincing 45-21 victory over Bristol Bears at Sandy Park.

Olly Woodburn was the headline act, the 34-year-old winger rolling back the years with a first-half hat-trick to put Rob Baxter’s side firmly in command.

No.8 Kane James also crossed twice, Ethan Roots added a try, while the hosts also benefited from a penalty try as the Chiefs survived a spirited Bristol fightback to finish with a comprehensive win.

The Bears should have struck first after only four minutes when Gabriel Ibitoye raced through following a razor-sharp attack. With the line at his mercy, however, the normally clinical winger dropped the ball as he attempted to ground it.

Exeter took full advantage of the let-off. Woodburn opened the scoring in the right corner after a neat move involving Harvey Skinner, before doubling his tally when he finished off a looping pass from Will Butt.

His hat-trick soon followed. Woodburn collected possession at the base of a ruck, spotted an opportunity and took matters into his own hands, burrowing over for an opportunist pick-and-go score.

The Bears finally responded before the break, centre James Williams powering over close to the posts after the visitors had worked their way into a promising attacking position. AJ MacGinty converted to give Pat Lam’s side hope.

Those hopes were quickly dashed after the restart as the Chiefs resumed their attacking assault.

James finished a slick left-to-right move, with Roots providing the final pass, before the England international got on the scoresheet himself. James supplied the impetus from a line-out and Roots forced his way over from close range.

Bristol refused to surrender and Ollie Harris finished in the corner to reduce the deficit, before they awarded a penalty try when Exeter debutant Sam Harris was sent to the sin-bin for a deliberate knock-on.

Suddenly, the Chiefs were only 10 points clear, but the setback produced exactly the response Baxter wanted.

“We went down to 14 men when we were 10 points up, with a quarter of the game still to play, and those moments almost brought the best out of us,” said Baxter.

“We could have looked around and thought, ‘This is getting a little bit tough now, what are we going to do?’ Instead, we upped our attitude and our effort.”

The Chiefs restored their authority when Bristol replacement Harry Randall illegally stopped a close-range maul, resulting in another penalty try.

James then completed his brace to put the result beyond doubt, the Chiefs’ scrum powering over from five metres as Exeter pulled clear again.

Baxter added: “My overriding feeling today is that we were pretty good for large parts of the game. We had good attack, we were physical, we scored a lot of tries and at times we looked very clinical in the first half.

“There are still a few things we can improve on. Our line-out was off at times, we got a little loose at a couple of breakdowns, and we gave away a couple of soft penalties. But outside of that, I thought most parts of our game held up really well.”

The Chiefs, meanwhile, continue their build-up to the new PREM rugby season when they travel to Cardiff this Saturday for a pre-season friendly at the Cardiff Arms Park (3pm).