Exeter Chiefs secure Premiership top spot and home semi-final despite defeat to Saracens
A youthful Saracens side beat a much changed Exeter Chiefs squad 40-17 at Allianz Park
by John EvelyAny thoughts the ‘evil empire’ that is the Saracens dynasty was going to be ended by the club’s relegation to the Championship and the subsequent breaking up of their squad, were put to bed on Sunday evening.
In theory is was a repeat of last season’s Gallagher Premiership final, agonisingly won 37-34 by defending European champions Saracens who we now know were breaking the salary cap to do so, but two almost unrecognisable teams did battle at Allianz Park this weekend with the host’s youngsters coming out 40-17 winners.
With both club’s untroubled by the Premiership table for very different reasons with three rounds remaining of the regular season the attention of both directors of rugby were very firmly fixed on the impending European Heineken Champions Cup quarter-finals this coming weekend.
Defeats for Sale Sharks and Bristol Bears elsewhere in Round 20 meant Chiefs went into the match having secured top spot for the 2019/20 season and a home semi-final while Saracens' relegation fate was determined long ago by the 105 points deduction for breaching the salary cap.
Exeter now host an injury hit Northampton Saints side on Sunday while Saracens face the daunting task of heading to Dublin to take on the new PRO14 champions Leinster on Saturday.
Chiefs director of rugby Rob Baxter was quick to find the silver lining from the weekend despite his side's first defeat since rugby returned after the coronavirus pandemic enforced five month shutdown.
He said: "It is certainly not all doom and gloom.
"The weekend has ended up being a fantastic weekend for us if you look at this block of games. We have secured number on spot in the Premiership, we have secured a home semi-final. Everything that we could get out of the Premiership to date we have got.
"Now we need to switch our focus pretty quick to having a good training week ahead of Northampton."
Despite a number of high profile departures from Saracens, of the likes of Will Skelton, Max Malins, Ben Earl, Ben Spencer and Nick Tomkins to name but a few of those who have moved on, this remains a talented squad of players. Had Saracens not faced a points deduction the club would be in second place in the table with season’s points tally, hot on the heels of Chiefs.
On Sunday the hosts displayed their strength in depth, scoring tries out wide through the likes of Rotimi Segun and Elliott Obatoyinbo, bursting through the centre through Dom Morris and then flexing their forward power for Janco Venter and Cameron Boon to touch down to secure a bonus-point win.
But it was certainly not all bad news for a Chiefs side packed full of debutants though with new Argentine signing Facundo Cordero scoring a well worked try in the corner thanks to the genius of Phil Dollman who plucked a high floating pass from Harvey Skinner out of the air one handed over his head and then offloaded it to his diminutive winger to score.
Will Witty powered over from close range for Chiefs after the break and Dave Dennis trotted over with the clock in the red to make the scores look more respectable.
Baxter reflected: "It was a bit of a battle this afternoon, we knew it would be.
"Ultimately I don't mind saying we are a little bit disappointed we didn't get a bit more out of the game.
"I think there was bit more out there for us. We conceded some soft points and made some errors which we need to learn from.
"Our young and inexperienced players probably need to gain an appreciation of why we do some things and practice some things but you actually need to go out there and do it to really learn.
"We had times when we got things right and looked pretty decent but we also had times when we couldn't put blocks of things together to move up the field and create pressure."
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Saracens: 15 Will Hooley, 14 Rotimi Segun, 13 Dom Morris, 12 Harry Sloan, 11 Elliott Obatoyinbo, 10 Manu Vunipola, 9 Tom Whiteley; 1 Sam Crean, 2 Kapeli Pifeleti, 3 Alec Clarey, 4 Joel Kpoku, 5 Callum Hunter-Hill, 6 Calum Clark, 7 Sean Reffell, 8 Janco Venter,
Replacements: 16 Tom Woolstencroft, 17 Robin Hislop, 18 Josh Ibuanokpe, 19 Cameron Boon, 20 Andy Christie, 21 Alex Day, 22 Juan Pablo Socino, 23 Josh Hallett
Exeter Chiefs: 15 Phil Dollman, 14 Josh Hodge, 13 Corey Baldwin, 12 Tom Wyatt, 11 Facundo Cordero, 10 Harvey Skinner, 9 Joe Snow; 1 Billy Keast, 2 Jack Innard, 3 Alfie Petch, 4 Will Witty, 5 Tom Price, 6 Sean Lonsdale, 7 Richard Capstick, 8 Don Armand ©
Replacements: 16 Jordon Poole, 17 James Kenny, 18 Matt Johnson, 19 Dave Dennis, 20 Aaron Hinkley, 21 Will Yarnell, 22 Jack Walsh, 23 Luke Mehson
Referee: Adam Leal
Assistant Referees: Andrew Jackson & Gareth Holsgrove
TMO: Sean Davey
Citing Officer: Grant Seely