Richard looking for redemption
REPORTS THE Aviva Premiership prides itself on being the most competitive league in world rugby but, to misquote George Orwell, while all teams are equal, two teams have been more equal than the others this season.
Today’s final at Twickenham between Exeter and Saracens pits together the clubs who have, over the home straight of the regular season, put clean air between themselves and the rest.
The Chiefs have won their past 10 matches; Saracens their past five by a staggering average margin of 39 points. The unstoppable force takes on the immovable object – it is a meeting of heavyweights in every sense with Billy Vunipola being passed fit to play for Sarries.
If this was the final many would have predicted back in September, it is one that looked a long way off in December when an unrecognisable Saracens slumped to a 46-14 home defeat by Clermont, their sixth in a row.
A team built on their relentless defence missed 37 tackles that night.
If Saracens go on to wrest back the Premiership title from that low point, it will have been quite some comeback.
“We were definitely embarrassed. When you get beaten by 32 points at home, there was no sugar-coating that result,” said long-serving Saracens scrum-half Richard Wigglesworth.
“We didn’t turn up. It was shocking. Coaches can try to take as much responsibility as they want but it is a players’ thing if you’re getting stuffed at home. So we took that and we made sure we owned that. It was our names on that record home defeat.
“It’s these moments in seasons when you can sink or swim. What we did really well as a club was not to overreact.
“As a group, we pulled together to put it right. We didn’t faction off and blame everyone else.
“We were short with each other and all the rest of it, but only through a sense of wanting to get it right, not through playing the blame game. We kept our heads down and worked our way out of it.
“If we get something this weekend that will be a nice memory because of the journey we’ve taken.
“Six months ago everyone was going, ‘Oh my God, what is happening to this team?’ We’ll remember everything we’ve gone through if we do get the prize.”
Wigglesworth, who turns 35 in a fortnight, makes his 262nd Premiership appearance today. That puts him second on the all-time list alongside George Chuter and Phil Dowson. Four more and he will overtake Steve Borthwick at the top.
Back in the England set-up, although rested for next month’s Springboks tour, Wigglesworth knows there will not be too many more chances at silverware.
“When you start knocking on a bit you start looking at what your career is going to look like when you hang up your boots,” he said.
“We’re all chasing that feeling of being vindicated by what you’ve done and being part of something special.
“It’s very different from eight years ago and our first Premiership final. We now get judged on what we have won – not plucky losses any more. That’s the reality.
“We’ve embraced that in the last couple of years. If you’ve got that pressure, you know you’re a good squad and a good team.”
When the same two clubs reached Twickenham in 2016, it was Saracens who prevailed 28-20, only to be eliminated late on in last year’s semifinal by the Chiefs. Over the course of the regular season, Exeter finished eight points clear of Saracens.
“They have been underestimated.
“They’re a brilliant team, a very impressive group of players,” said Wigglesworth. Saracens have the star power but Exeter yield to no one.
It is a knife-edge final – the perfect way to pull the curtain down on the English domestic season. JOHNNY SEXTON returns from a calf injury for Leinster in today’s Pro14 final against Scarlets in Dublin.