EXETER Chiefs head coach Rob Baxter insists his side still have plenty to improve on despite seeing them move to the summit of the Championship with an impressive 35-26 victory over Bristol.

With both sides having gone into the game with unblemished records for the season so far, it was the visiting Chiefs who showcased their promotion credentials with a solid all-round showing.

Tries from Matt Cornwell, Richard Baxter, Phil Dollman and Stuart Alcott ensured a bonus point success, while fly-half Gareth Steenson extended his impressive tally for the season with a further 15 points with the boot.

Baxter, though, is refusing to get carried away with things, even though yesterday's victory helped – in some ways – to banish the painful memories of the Devon club's last visit to the Memorial Stadium four years ago.

On that occasion – and with both clubs pushing for promotion into the Premiership – it was Bristol who ran riot on their way to a stunning 68-15 win.

But as Baxter was quick to point out at the final whistle yesterday – that was then and this is now.

He said: "I think both coaches would have said at the end of the game, whether they won or lost, that everything was pretty much still on plan – and I think that is still the case.

"We have come here and won today in a good, entertaining game of rugby. I'm massively pleased with our commitment and our character. We showed it last week [against Plymouth Albion] and we showed it again today. I'm slightly disappointed that we went into containment mode at times, but if you let Bristol play, they are a team that can really hurt you and they showed that at times.

"The pleasing thing for me is we have taken a hurdle today and we know we can come here and win if we have to in the future."

Baxter added: "Every game you win helps you plan your season a bit more. It means you don't have to consider playing players who may have slight niggles. Instead we can look after the squad and keep everyone fresh as our position in the league is comfortable now.

"That said, things can change very quickly. We have London Welsh next week and they are a side who are bang on form right now. They could easily have won at Bristol on the first day and they had a good win against Bedford on Saturday.

"I just hope we don't take our foot off the gas and turn up at training on Tuesday thinking we are world beaters because that is far from the case. What we have to do is have another big, tough performance against London Welsh and move on from there."

Certainly the Chiefs have done all that has been asked of them so far this season. Indeed, having made seven changes to the side that won the Devon derby the week previous, Exeter were quickly into their stride.

Two early penalties from Steenson set the tone for the Chiefs, who were then forced on the defensive as a clever midfield break by Luke Eves saw him evade tackles from Chad Slade and Clive Stuart-Smith, but not former Bristol hooker Neil Clark, who pulled off a tremendous last-gasp tackle to deny Eves.

The lively Bristol backs continued to cause problems and when former Exeter favourite Junior Fatialofa exposed another opening in the heart of the Chiefs' defensive line, it took another saving tackle – this time from Jess – to prevent the hosts from scoring.

Having survived those threats, however, the Chiefs stretched their lead when Steenson plucked Adrian Jarvis' chip kick out of the air, galloped his way almost the length of the field, before offloading to Cornwell, who was able to dot down under the sticks. Steenson converted for a 13-0 advantage.

Bristol needed a response and two penalties from Jarvis helped to cut the deficit by the half-hour mark.

The Chiefs, though, were still flying and after Steenson nudged over another penalty on 40 minutes, they grabbed a second try in first-half stoppage time when No.8 Baxter finished off a series of drives, Steenson converted to make it 23-6.

On the resumption, the Chiefs were again first out of the blocks as good approach work involving Steenson, James Scaysbrook and Jess put Cornwell within touching distance of the home line. Unfortunately, the former Leicester youngster spilt the pass from Jess and the chance was lost.

At the other end, Jarvis failed with a speculative drop-goal chance, but did find the target when he sent over a 54th-minute penalty.

Suddenly it was the former top-flight club who were in the ascendancy. Having threatened in the first half with one break, Fatialofa this time made no mistake as he brushed aside the attentions of Cornwell to power in under the sticks. Jarvis obliged with the extras.

It got even worse for the Chiefs just past the hour when another lighting counter from the hosts saw former Plymouth Albion pair Lee Robinson and Tom Arscott combine down the left, the latter chipping the ball in behind Emyr Lewis for winger Dan Norton to collect and touchdown. Jarvis sent over the conversion to tie the game.

The score could have spelt disaster for the Chiefs, but instead they rallied together and within two minutes they were back in front once more. Lewis, Richard Baxter and Jess led the charge, before the ball was shipped out to Cornwell, whose looping pass to the right sent Dollman scampering over in the right-hand corner.

The action was relentless and when the Chiefs again infringed at a scrum with ten minutes remaining, former Harlequins back Jarvis was on hand to plunder his fourth penalty of the game.

Exeter were not to be denied and with six minutes remaining they claimed the all-important fourth try when Alcott barged his way over. Steenson kicked the conversion to make it 35-26.