A match which promised so much: the top two teams going
hammer and tongs to lift the trophy. Saracens: defending European champions and
last year’s Premiership champions; and Exeter Chiefs: the plucky underdogs who
brought themselves from the Championship to the Final in just six years.
Saracens were making their fourth Final visit to Twickenham with the view of
being the first team since Leicester in 2010 to defend their title and the
first to get the European and Premiership double since Wasps in 2004. Meanwhile
the boys from Sandy Park were making their debut appearance in the Final in a
bid to be the most successful club in Premiership history.
Saracens started
well, pressuring the Chiefs in their half. Two early penalties by Owen Farrell
set the tone of the half, with Exeter seeing very little of the ball. Saracens
could have had more on offer when they failed to utilise a 4 on 1 overlap, but
a breakdown error by Chiefs gave Farrell his opening points. Premiership Player
of the Year Alex Goode, uncharacteristically, dropped two balls when Gareth
Steenson attempted to clear the ball from his half, but Exeter’s discipline let
them down. Two infringements at scrum time by Harry Williams and further
defensive errors at the breakdown let Farrell extend the lead following a
series of storming runs from the forwards, including both Vunipola brothers.
England’s forgotten man, Chris Ashton, put the Chiefs under
enormous pressure when the kicks were returned to their half, clattering hard
with Phil Dollman. With the Chiefs having very little of the ball, it was all
one way traffic. However, handling errors by the men in black meant they could
not utilise the possession. Steenson eventually attempted a long range drop
goal, but as the kick went wide, referee Wayne Barnes brought the teams back to
an infringement at the lineout. Steenson took his chance to make up for the
error from the tee and kicked the points.
A scary moment for Saracens came three minutes later when
Henry Slade charged down Farrell’s attempted cross kick, putting the champions
into reverse. However, Barnes had been playing advantage to Saracens and so
Farrell took the three points on offer.
Exeter seemed to have little answer for the Saracens
defence, instead opting to kick the ball into space to try and get the territory
but the response was to send it right back at them, with Ashton chasing
everything kicked for him. Soon the pressure told, as Farrell took a cross-field
kick which landed neatly into the arms of Duncan Taylor, who had started the
move by breaking through a hole in the defence. This seemed to open the
floodgates, as a second try came through a failed tackle by Jack Nowell and Slade to allow Chris Wyles through to score in the same corner. Farrell kicked
both conversions, leaving the Chiefs wounded. Steenson managed to reduce the
deficit just before the half with a kick of his own, but the Chiefs had a lot
to do in the second half.
Exeter came out in the second half with a point to prove and
used their backs to great effect to put pressure on. After turning over a
lineout maul, the Chiefs looked to have a chance of a breakaway try but an
interception by a retreating Ashton denied the score. Finally with some possession,
Chiefs tried to spread the defence and eventually a penalty came with Steenson
going straight for the corner. The driving maul set by Exeter has worked all
season for them and it worked again as club captain Jack Yeandle settled at the
back of the lineout to score.
With Steenson’s conversion, Exeter seemed to break the
Saracens game plan, setting a series of driving mauls from penalties to push
the Champions back. An eventual tactic by Itoje was to collapse the maul, but
this only lead to further pressure when Steenson sent the ball into the 22.
This time, the maul failed to be as effective, but passing through the backs
created an overlap which Dollman and Nowell were able to utilise, with the
England winger giving his team hope in the last quarter.
Another conversion gave the Chiefs hope, but it was not to
be. Marcelo Bosch took advantage of a newly forged overlap giving the final
pass to let Goode over. With what turned out to be the final kick of his career,
Charlie Hodgson lined up the posts but kicked it wide. As the camera’s panned
out the coaches box, even Rob Baxter looked defeated when the final two minutes
passed and the Chiefs ill-discipline reappeared.
After Goode was named Man of the Match, Hodgson attempted a
final cross-field kick for glory, kicking the ball through the posts for good
measure. Ashton pounced and celebrated but the TMO consultation revealed he’d
missed the ball completely. Exeter took the drop out, looking to salvage some
glory, but it was not to be as the ball ended up under a pile of bodies and
Saracens were champions.
