Saracens and Exeter expected to field weakened teams for top-two fixture
Fans hoping to see a potential dress rehearsal of this season’s Premiership final are set to be disappointed with Saracens and Exeter opting to rest most of their biggest names for Saturday’s televised top-two fixture at Allianz Park.
Saracens have already indicated they will not be picking their leading players before next week’s Heineken Champions Cup final against Leinster and it is understood Exeter, nine points clear at the top of the table, will be doing likewise. Two of their England contingent, Jack Nowell and Sam Simmonds, will not be involved because the game is being played on an artificial surface.
Simmonds, who is now on the verge of a first-team return having recovered from the serious knee injury he sustained against Worcester last September, will also sit out Exeter’s Premiership Shield game on Newcastle’s 4G pitch next Monday for the same reason. With a home semi-final already secured, Exeter’s director of rugby, Rob Baxter, sees no reason to take unnecessary risks and believes his squad is well equipped to prosper in the playoffs.
“I’m feeling that we’re actually going OK and that big things are bubbling,” said Baxter, insisting the foundations of his team remain strong despite a recent loss to Wasps and a mixed effort against Harlequins last Saturday. “Do we want to be flying now and then dropping off? Probably not. We want to be getting ready to explode and that’s what I can feel coming.”
Nowell missed last week’s home win over Harlequins with a slight ankle injury but will be back available for the Chiefs’ final regular season game at home to Northampton on 18 May, when Baxter is likely to revert to his strongest-available XV.
His full-back Santiago Cordero, however, faces a race against time to be involved in the play-offs, having damaged knee ligaments against Wasps. Cordero is among the nominees for the Rugby Players’ Association player of the year award, along with his teammate Henry Slade, Gloucester’s Danny Cipriani, Sale’s Faf de Klerk and Northampton’s Cobus Reinach.