Wasps are deserving of final spot – boss Lam
2017 final, their inability to train since the start of last week causes major disruption to their preparations for Twickenham.
Four players and three members of backroom staff tested positive last week, but on this occasion the sixtime winners have not given the breakdown of the personnel that are affected.
It leaves some time tomorrow morning as the fateful moment when they will discover whether the outbreak has escalated or receded.
Premiership Rugby will wait for those results before a decision is made on what should happen to the showpiece final.
Consequently, Bristol have been forced to cut short their celebrations after winning the European Challenge Cup on Friday and director of Pat Lam acknowledges that, if the Bears play at Twickenham, it will be unsatisfactory.
“We absolutely believe that Wasps and Exeter should be contesting this final. They thoroughly deserve it,” the Samoan said. “Lee Blackett at Wasps has done an unbelievable job and it’s fantastic for the Premiership to see what Exeter did on Saturday.
“We ourselves have been put in a situation that isn’t ideal, but everything with Covid isn’t ideal, including the fact we’re waiting for the final to be played now at the end of the season we’ve had.”
Exeter boss Rob Baxter feels that achieving a European and domestic trophy double would be “just reward” for his players.
But Baxter is also braced for a major challenge from in-form Wasps – or indeed Bristol – in Saturday’s Gallagher Premiership final.
Exeter will prepare for the English season’s climax with the Champions Cup already in their locker.
A pulsating 31-27 victory over Racing 92 at Ashton Gate gave them a first European crown just ten years after they were promoted from the Championship.
And if they go on to land the double, Exeter will achieve something that only three English clubs – Leicester, Wasps and Saracens – have so far achieved.
“It would be a just reward, I feel, for this group of players, for what they have committed to over the last five years, if we can do the double,” Baxter said. “I am hoping that will be enough of a driver for us.
“I think we can play better than we did (against Racing), and we will need to, actually. I think Wasps are ready to go, and I think it is going to be a tough game for us, another game when I will be chewing my microphone and cursing and wondering what we are doing, but that’s what finals are like.
“When we had to, we saw it through. We’ve done it at the first attempt, and it is great for this group of players. It vindicates what they’ve achieved together over the last four or five years.
“They’ve had a lot of heartache in that time, really, and they have never backed away or not kept fighting for wanting something more. They have taken a huge step forward.”
Exeter have featured in the last four Premiership finals, losing three of them to Saracens.