CHIEFS MAKE THEM SARRY
HARRY WILLIAMS was sent off for brawling as Exeter beat Saracens in the grudge match English club rugby had waited all season for.
The long-haired England star had not picked up a card of any colour in his 68 previous Premiership games.
But playing against opposition found guilty of cheating the salary cap in the two years they inflicted Twickenham heartbreak on his Exeter team, Williams (below) saw both yellow and red.
The prop, sin-binned in the first half for collapsing a maul, had already been subbed when Duncan Taylor sparked a mass brawl by flipping Nic White over his shoulder three minutes from time.
But Williams raced back on to the pitch and threw himself into the middle of a seething altercation.
Referee Wayne Barnes ruled that Williams “running in off the bench and escalating everything through the roof ” was “not acceptable”.
Exeter boss Rob Baxter said: “On the whole we played the line of the physicality and emotion very well.
“But the one thing that ultimately hurt us, because it cost us seven points and we don’t know what it will cost us disciplinary-wise, is Harry’s red card.
“Harry is disappointed. But he has not done anything physically violent. He has gone in because he felt an Exeter player was surrounded and mobbed.”
The dismissal was the only negative on a day of triumph for Chiefs, who reclaimed the Premiership top spot and were within a minute of handing Saracens their first shutout for nine years.
Tries by White and Jacques Vermeulen delighted Exeter’s biggest-ever crowd of 13,593 and went some way to avenging those Premiership Final losses.
Chiefs have been vociferous in their criticism of Saracens, with owner Tony Rowe calling for the champions to be relegated and Baxter saying the Londoners had beaten his team in two finals “unfairly”.
Baxter was not about to apologise, adding: “Sometimes the people who have pointed out that Saracens have cheated almost get pointed out to be the bad guys.
“Well, the people who have made comment on it aren’t the cheats.”
England centre Henry Slade is likely to miss the start of the Six Nations, due to what Baxter said was a “small fracture to his ankle”.
EXETER – Tries: White, Vermeulen. Cons: J Simmonds 2.
SARACENS – Try: Penalty.