Match action - starts
IT WAS a hot-house Premiership final, played on a baking afternoon at Twickenham, and where Exeter wilted in the furnace the Saracens steel seemed to grow stronger as they prised the title off the Devon side with an emphatic four tries to one victory.
This made Saracens the English club champions for the fourth time in eight seasons, establishing them unequivocally as the dominant team of the decade. The reality was that they looked like hardened pros against a much younger Exeter outfit that simply did not have the muscle to match them.
With the Saracens forwards dominating the collisions, and Billy and Mako Vunipola, Maro Itoje and Jamie George saving their best until last after a season in which they have had their dips, Exeter’s pick-and-drive game was nullified, and when they looked for a new recipe the cupboard was bare.
By contrast, Saracens have developed through their European Cup and domestic triumphs into a team with multiple layers, able to find different ways to win – and one of those layers is a counter-attacking game that, at its best, none of their Premiership rivals can live with.
This was showcased by each of their tries. Two of them scored by their indomitable American wing Chris Wyles in his last match for the club – meaning that he signed off by equalling Chris Ashton as Saracens’ leading try scorer on 47.
Their haul was completed by Billy Vunipola bagging his only try of an injury ravaged season, and the Harlequins-bound Nathan Earle also signing off in style.
However, along with forwards who are all comfortable on the ball, Saracens boast a creative catalyst in Alex Goode who not only swung this final decisively their way, but who has been inspirational in firing an attack which finished the regular season with 89 tries.
This is more than any Premiership team has scored in the last 18 years, and Goode produced a brilliant performance on the biggest day of the season. His elusive footwork, great timing and urgency gave Saracens a crucial edge in outmanoeuvring the Chiefs defence and presenting gift-wrapped scoring chances to his team-mates.
Mark McCall and his coaching team should also take credit for their relentless search for improvement, especially as part of the new attacking edge was gleaned from a coaching exchange with the Hurricanes in New Zealand.
McCall and company should take great satisfaction from the way their team has evolved – and also for a resilience that saw them bounce back in the Premiership despite the disappointment of going out in the quarter-finals of the European Cup.
Exeter flattered to deceive in the opening exchanges, establishing a bridgehead through Sam Hill and then going ahead with a Joe Simmonds penalty. However, a pattern then began to emerge of Exeter ball-carriers being battered in the gain-line battle, and then losing possession after being corralled in areas of the field they didn’t to want to be in.
Chiefs backs of the calibre of Olly Woodburn and Jack Nowell were consequently on the receiving end of too much ‘mayday’ passing, and also spent much of the afternoon retrieving kicks which Owen Farrell, and Goode clipped over the heads into the corners.
Saracens made their first big inroads when Goode’s sheer determination saw him burst between two Chiefs sweepers to get to a Farrell chip first, hacking it into the 22 before catching the bounce. When Farrell stretched Exeter further with a kickpass to Wyles on the left touchline, Billy Vunipola was on hand to ram the ball to within a couple of metres of the whitewash.
With Saracens keeping the pressure on through a couple more phases the big No.8 reappeared to barrel over the line. Farrell converted to put them7-3 ahead – and they never looked anything but winners from there on.
Just before the mid point of the half they scored again when a screen pass from Farrell found Goode, and the full-back cut a brilliant line to draw two defenders and create an overlap by finding Sean Maitland with an inspired overhand pass. Maitland provided the link to put Wyles over untouched.
With Saracens 12-3 ahead, and the ‘wolfpack’ defence sacking Exeter at every turn, they created another scoring opportunity with a Farrell chip into the in-goal area for Wyles, but Nowell won the scramble to ground the ball.
A Farrell long-range penalty miss just before the interval meant that, at nine points adrift, Exeter were still in the hunt. However, those seeds of hope were extinguished seven minutes into the second half, with the defending champions looking ragged in defence despite the halftime respite.
The Saracens assault began with Alex Lozowski cutting inside Henry Slade, and after his forwards smashed into the Chiefs 22, he took Farrell’s pass and he and Goode combined to put Wyles over for his second touchdown.
No sooner had Farrell’s
conversion made it 19-3 than Rob Baxter sent on five replacements in a desperate bid to change the tide in the last half-hour. The Exeter coach had some success when a line-out drive was stopped illegally, with Schalk Brits sinbinned for coming in at the side.
With Saracens a man down, and Exeter camped on their line for the only time in the game, they eventually capitalised when Gareth Steenson – on for Joe Simmonds – scored from a five metre scrum after forcing his way past Ben Spencer.
Although Steenson’s conversion reduced the arrears to 19-10 with most of the last quarter still to play, there was no miracle finish this time for the veteran fly-half, or his side. The foray seemed to sap the Chiefs of their remaining energy and Saracens went back on the offensive.
With their heavy-duty bench providing the final push, a Spencer penalty following a drive by the indefatigable Brad Barritt made it 22-10, before Will Skelton and Brits – still defying his years in his final game for the club – with a gymnastic pass off the deck, saw Goode – who else? – send Earle sprinting in.
It was a stylish finish that put the seal on a victory that ensured that players like Brits and Wyles, who have contributed so much to Saracens rise to the top of the English game, rode into the sunset as champions.
Nothing could have been more fitting.