Chiefs down Saracens to lay their challenge
EXETER director of rugby Rob Baxter watched his side deliver a message to the rest of the Premiership by downing Saracens 18-15 and warned we are coming for you.
Chiefs beat their bitterest rivals thanks to a 56th minute Luke CowanDickie try and Saracens getting on the wrong side of referee Luke Pearce.
But this was only Exeter’s second home league win of the season after a stuttering start to the campaign and Baxter has told his squad they will have to shelve their title ambitions if they don’t keep their foot on the pedal.
And that means taking down all of the leading contenders and making headway in Europe in the next fortnight starting with Montpellier next Saturday.
Baxter said: “A lot of people want to drive the Exeter-Saracens thing but for me it was important to play well against one of the better teams in the Premiership, one of the teams that are going to be in and around the top four the whole of the season.
“That is what we have got to do, we have got to show that we can knock these guys over because that is what we haven’t done. We lost to Leicester, we haven’t beaten them and we need to find a way to knock them over, if we want to win the Premiership.
“We had to show we could do that to Saracens, we have to show we do that to Quins.
“I am just really pleased we put in that kind of performance against a team we should expect to be around the top of the table at the end of the season. We have targeted this month and these four games as really showing the best of ourselves. We are really excited and determined to be firing into our Heineken Champions Cup campaign, I feel a lot better now after two wins than I did two weeks ago.”
Hardnosed Exeter managed to keep on the right side of referee Luke Pearce while Saracens lost their cool with Billy and Mako Vunipola plus Nick Isiekwe all being penalised 10m for back chat.
Baxter added: “Any opposition frustration during the game normally comes from feeling under pressure. They don’t need to complain if things are going their way.”
Saracens head into the second tier Challenge Cup next weekend frustrated at throwing away points.
Director of rugby Mark McCall said: “We were let down today by inaccuracy and ill discipline. We were marched back three times, which is not good enough.
“It’s not just frustrating, it’s highly costly. It cost us points and it cost us decisions later because you’re on the wrong side of the referee and things you deserve you don’t get.
“Maro Itoje was over the ball a couple of times on the halfway line and we got nothing, which is probably because of how we’d behaved earlier.”
EXETER renewed their Premiership rivalry with Saracens after a season’s hiatus with the most satisfying of wins on an afternoon when the victory counted more than the manner that achieved it.
Although perking up in the second half the game was some way short of the classic that many hoped for, but given the two clubs’ recent history that won’t bother anybody at Sandy Park.
It was realistically always going to be an arm wrestle, a battle of wills and a bit niggly. One for the fans not the purists.
Suitably enough most of the Exeter players headed straight for the beer tent and a pint with the Sandy Park faithful on the final whistle. This was for them.
All of which contrasted with a distinctly average first half in tricky if hardly impossible conditions
Saracens, with Maro Itoje a force of nature throughout, made the quicker start and went into the lead with a 40 metre penalty from Alex Lozowski but Exeter were the first to threaten the line.
Max Malins successfully caught a high kick but then threw a careless pass to his right which went to ground. Chiefs pounced, Joe Simmonds kicked ahead, Henry Slade followed up, quick rucked ball followed and Sam Simmonds was burrowing over for a trademark try.
Except that Slade was then judged to have been in front of Simmonds when he kicked.
He might have been – by about three inches – but it seemed to demand a closer inspection than the officials granted.
The game meandered on with Billy Vunipola being marched back twice for questioning a decision from Luke Pearce – schoolboy errors – and soon Joe Simmonds levelled the scores with a penalty.
Lozowksi hit back with a second penalty for Saracens before finally, as the half-time whistle approached, there was some purposeful rugby to enjoy.
Exeter were moving forward down the right with an advantage to use and when the ball came back Joe Simmonds picked out Tom O’Flaherty on the left wing with a cross-field kick. Much better.
The early part of the second half spluttered a little with Sarries regaining the lead with a third penalty from Lozowski although Sarries also got pulled up a third time for back chat.
It was Exeter who had the last word, though. They soon claimed a well worked lineout rumble from short range – their staple had been letting them down thus far this season – for Luke CowanDickie to finish it off.
A big day for the England hooker who was captaining the side for the first time and also returning from an ankle injury.
Saracens clawed their way back into contention with another brace of penalties from the uber consistent Lozowski – but Exeter got firmly back on the front foot as full time approached.
A savage, sustained 26 phase attack seemed certain to result in a try to finish proceedings off and for all excellence of the Saracens’ defence, it really should have resulted in any one of three unmarked Chiefs scoring wide on the right.
England second row Jonny Hill, however, was intent on putting his head down and charging across the line and was brilliantly wrapped up by Malins and Vincent Koch who at least ensured a losing bonus point for Sarries.