Exeter earn draw at Sarries after Barrington sees red
SARACENS had to play 69 minutes reduced to 14 men after their loosehead prop, Richard Barrington, was sent off after hitting upwards with his shoulder into the head of Jeff Parling as the Exeter lock drove into contact.
Saracens captain Brad Barritt was lucky not to receive a yellow card for hitting Parling with a swinging arm which clipped him on the jaw a split second before Barrington’s illegal but non-malicious hit.
It was inevitable that Barrington, who had been clapped onto the field at Allianz Park as he marked his 100th appearance, would take no further part with referee Ian Tempest saying as he showed the red card: “Direct contact to the head with force. I’m sorry. I have no other option.”
As Parling was stretchered off Barritt was left to reflect on his good fortune – although his high tackle did not merit anything more than a yellow due to the absence of force and the Exeter lock dipping into contact.
As for the red, it would have been a sending off even before the new World Rugby high tackle directive issued this week. “That contact would have knocked-out a heavyweight boxer,” was Exeter coach Rob Baxter’s apt description of the impact.
Gareth Steenson kicked the penalty, and, with Saracens opting to regroup by taking Sean Maitland off and bringing on bench prop Titi Lamositele to keep their forward strength at eight, the Exeter fly-half didn’t miss a trick.
Steenson’s kick-pass to the corner where Maitland would have been saw Jack Nowell take a brilliant onehanded airborne catch to score in the corner.
With Steenson converting for a 10-0 lead with 14 minutes on the clock the stage looked set for the Chiefs to press home their advantage against the champions. However, bit by inexorable bit – with Maro Itoje, Jackson Wray and Michael Rhodes in the vanguard – the European champions clawed their way back.
It started with a scrum penalty, with Alex Lozowski hitting the target to trim it to 10-3. It continued when a brilliant corner-flagging double tackle by Chris Wyles and Rhodes two minutes from the interval stopped Don Armand’s charge, with Rhodes diving to knock the ball out of his hands as the bearded Chief reached out to touch down.
In the second-half the resistance stepped up another gear with the Saracens forwards winning the arm-wrestle with the help of Richard Wigglesworth’s smart prompting.
The all-international arrival of Jamie George, Will Skelton, Vincent Koch and Schalk Burger strengthened their hand further, and when Lozowski kicked another scrum penalty to make it 10-6 – and Steenson missed one – a momentum shift was underway.
Exeter looked as if they had arrested it with an 18phase attack which yielded a penalty which Steenson kicked for 13-6 with ten minutes remaining. Cue a late Saracens surge which saw them force two five metre lineouts. On the second one Jim Hamilton’s catch was well-set and unstoppable as Lamositele plunged over.
Lozowski added the extras to tie the match and with Saracens retaining possession to the final whistle their Mighty 14 left the field as table toppers.