Exeter intend to use the hurt of lost final to gain revenge
The Exeter Chiefs fairy tale is no more. The romance of a trip to Twickenham died 12 months ago when Saracens choked the life out of them in the Premiership final, a defeat that prompted plenty of tears and a fair bit of soul-searching in the Devonians’ changing room.
That pain has not been forgotten. Their rematch against the European champions on Saturday represents an opportunity, not for another cider-fuelled grand day out, but for calculated revenge.
It was noticeable that the players’ celebrations after their resounding defeat of Northampton were significantly more restrained than they had been in their previous three semi-final victories at Sandy Park.
“When we lost in the first year we were almost just happy to be there,” said Jack Nowell, the England wing who has played in every minute of Exeter’s play-off matches. “We won it the second year and then last year we lost and it hurt a lot. We did use that a lot this year to spur us on – especially in these last couple of weeks. Losing last year, feeling the hurt and looking around the changing room and seeing the boys upset, crying and pretty down about it, I sat there and realised the year ahead was going to be a different one. We haven’t worked so hard to put ourselves in this position to go and lose it again.”
Of course, there is a great difference between desperately wanting to beat Saracens and actually defeating Mark Mccall’s side, who have taken their game to new levels over the past 12 months. The question is whether Exeter’s own improvement has outstripped Saracens’.
Rob Baxter, Exeter’s director of rugby, can point to higher tallies of
points accrued and tries scored. The lessons from that 27-10 defeat by Saracens a year ago are also seared into the consciousness.
“Everything got a bit hectic and a bit fraught and we just lost a couple of bodies where they needed to be,” Baxter said. “Instead of having clarity of thought, we went all-action and tried to get stuck into things. This time we’ll talk about making sure that, as well as having the heat and the fight of how we play, we are going to be cool and composed enough to get up, talk to each other and get properly positioned.”
Against Northampton, Exeter demonstrated both their red-zone ruthlessness and the game-breaking ability they possess in the individual tries scored by Joe Simmonds, Sam Hill and Tom O’flaherty. The other tries, from Harry Williams, Dave Dennis and Sam Simmonds, came from their patented pick-and-go game.
Yet there were signs of fallibility too, particularly as they let Northampton recover from 14-0 down to 14-12. “We kick three box kicks out on the full – typically something Saracens are fantastic at – which led to a try, a yellow card and some pressure on us,” Baxter said.
Box-kicking is one issue to be addressed, but as Northampton’s wily director of rugby Chris Boyd pointed out, the greater problem will be if Saracens counteract Exeter’s power game. “Once you have that neutralised you have to find another way to play and I think that will be a challenge for Exeter,” Boyd said. “If they don’t get power parity against sides then what does their game look like?”
In comparing the packs, Boyd gave the upper hand to Saracens’ star power. Exeter, however, have the fuel of righteous indignation, which is a powerful force: nine of the past 10 champions lost in the play-offs the year before.
For Nowell, it will mean focusing on the hurt of last year and forgetting the reputation and connections of their opposite numbers. “You kind of hate each other once you are out there for those 80 minutes, then as soon as the game is finished it is a different story,” Nowell said. “They rely a lot on the Vunipola brothers. Mako is injured but Billy is a very dominant player. Faz [Owen Farrell] as well. Playing with Faz you realise what a leader he is.
“The reason we have beaten them in the past is that we have been able to nullify those threats. They are currently the best in England, the best in Europe. That’s where we want to be.”
Scores 5-0 Williams try, 7-0 J Simmonds con, 12-0 J Simmonds try, 14-0 J Simmonds con, 14-7 pen try, 14-12 Tuala try, 19-12 Dennis try, 21-12 J Simmonds con, 26-12 O’flaherty try, 28-12 J Simmonds con, 33-12 S Simmonds try, 35-12 J Simmonds con, 40-12 S Hill try, 42-12 J Simmonds con.
Exeter J Nowell; A Cuthbert, H Slade (S Hill 61),
O Devoto, T O’flaherty (G Steenson 72); J Simmonds, N White (J Maunder); B Moon (A Hepburn 52), J Yeandle (L Cowan-dickie 52), H Williams (T Francis 50), D Dennis (S Skinner 55), J Hill, D Ewers (S Simmonds 62), D Armand, M Kvesic. Sin-bin O’flaherty 28-38.
Northampton A Tuala; T Collins, R Hutchinson, P Francis, T Naiyraravoro (L Burrell 61); D Biggar, C Reinach (A Mitchell 57); F van Wyk (A Waller 55), J Fish (D Dawidiuk 59), E Painter (P Hill 55), A Moon (J Gibson 53), A Ratuniyarawa (D Ribbans 53), C Lawes, L Ludlam (T Wood 60), T Harrison.
Referee M Carley.