IT’S SET FOR EXE-MEN THE SEQUEL
Chiefs have the quality to keep their crown
The table does not lie. After 22 rounds of the Aviva Premiership, exeter have been the best team in the land, and Newcastle have upset the status quo as the rising force.
What is yet to be seen is whether Saracens can peak at the right time and be the most obvious threat to the Chiefs’ hopes of defending their title.
That may hinge on whether they will be able to pick Billy Vunipola, who is such a vital asset for club and country.
Yet, even if england’s giant No 8 is fit to feature in the play- offs, Rob Baxter’s Devonians are favourites to be champions again.
They will expect to see off Newcastle in their semi-final at Sandy Park, but the runaway Club of the Season will head south from Tyneside convinced that they have the firepower to cause a shock.
With the danger posed by Vereniki Goneva and Sinoti Sinoti out wide for the Falcons, exeter will not be complacent.
Saracens should beat Wasps in Barnet. Should. It is no foregone conclusion. Danny Cipriani will be hell-bent on ensuring that his sign- off from Wasps comes at Twickenham, not at Allianz Park.
If the Wasps pack provide a platform, the sorcerer-playmaker — who, by rights, should be handed an england recall this week — will set about unleashing the likes of Willie le Roux and Christian Wade to devastating effect. But if Dai Young’s side fail to sort out their defensive lapses, all hope is lost.
The final on May 26 will cap a season which has been absorbing and erratic. The balance of power has fluctuated endlessly — Leicester, Bath, Gloucester and Sale all blew molten hot then ice cold. These clubs formed a mid-table cluster with its own revolving hierarchy right to the end.
Further down, reputations have been shredded. Recent champions Northampton and harlequins finished ninth and 10th respectively. That slump far below minimum expectations explains why the Saints have hired a new director of rugby and why Quins are in the market for one.
The demise of Jim Mallinder in the east Midlands and John Kingston in south-west London was one of the sub-plots of a turbulent campaign.
Professional rugby is acquiring football’s hire-and-fire tendency. Nick Kennedy was crudely demoted by London Irish and, understandably, chose to leave.
While there has been increasing job insecurity, there have been other alarming trends. Many clubs are feeling the financial pinch as the domestic game struggles to move away from an over-reliance on wealthy benefactors, while the sport’s physical toll was highlighted by the sad, career-ending injury suffered by Northampton’s Wallaby centre, Rob horne.
Boardroom politics have led to unrest, with Premiership Rugby’s quest to extend the domestic season prompting threats of strike action from leading players.
Mercifully, that possibility has been foiled, along with the latest attempts to force through a consensus on ring-fencing the top tier. For now, the door remains open — as it should be. There are still myriad issues to address and problems to solve, but it is not a bleak picture.
Not when clubs continue to sell out Twickenham, Wembley and the London Stadium, or have to fight tooth and nail for every point in an ultracompetitive league.
These days, most sides are even showing a willingness to ‘have a go’, so there is style to go with the substance.
But the big prize is still up for grabs and by rights it will be going back to Devon.