Major finals featuring the competition’s two best teams peaking at precisely the right moment are surprisingly few in number. Not this year. When it really counted Saracens and Exeter performed as well as they have done all season in their respective semi-finals on Saturday, paving the way for a rip-roaring Premiership finale at Twickenham.
If Saracens were spectacular at times in their 57-33 destruction of Wasps, the Chiefs were even more dominant in crushing Newcastle 36-5 at Sandy Park. The two top teams in the end-of-season table have raised their play-off games and neither sounds inclined to settle for consolatory pats on the back on Saturday.
Exeter crush Newcastle and prove folly of England tour selection | Robert Kitson
It says a lot about Exeter’s consistency over the past 18 months that, on paper, Rob Baxter’s defending champions boast the slimmest of edges. Having finished eight points clear of Saracens in the regular season and beaten their north London rivals home and away, they play relentlessly to their strengths and will back themselves to fight to the finish just as they did in their extra-time victory over Wasps a year ago.
One key statistic also suggests they are a club still on the rise. Of the XV who kicked off the final against Wasps last May, just four started Saturday’s semi-final despite virtually everyone being fit. Even popular elder statesmen like Gareth Steenson and Thomas Waldrom are on the bench these days, having been superseded by the Simmonds brothers from Teignmouth. Breaking into the Exeter line-up is increasingly as tough as the actual games.
With Dave Ewers also returning to his best and Don Armand continuing to make a mockery of his exclusion from England’s summer tour party, the Saracens pack can expect a much heavier-duty contest than Wasps could supply. While Maro Itoje, Mako Vunipola and Vincent Koch are all finishing the domestic season in impressive fashion, the possibility of Billy Vunipola’s tight hamstring limiting his final involvement might just give the Chiefs further cause for cautious optimism.
Armand, for one, feels the days of Exeter being overawed by big occasions are long gone. “We are not going to be starstruck by the fact it is the final,” he said. “We just have to pitch up and do what we do. We will take it in our stride, take the learnings of the last two years and hopefully make it work in our favour.”
No team containing Itoje, Owen Farrell or the Vunipolas could ever be described as vulnerable, but their next opponents certainly do not view them as invincible. “They have certainly started hitting their straps but we have had very good results against them over the last three or four years,” said Armand. “We know how to play them, we know how to play our game and it is going to be an exciting match. We need to make sure we pitch up and bring what Exeter brings.”
While Armand is doing his best to remain diplomatic on the England selection front – “Obviously I am disappointed but we are in a final and I have bigger things to focus on at the moment” – a second consecutive Premiership crown for Exeter would reopen the debate about England’s best options a year out from the World Cup. Henry Slade and Sam Simmonds are in outstanding form, Alec Hepburn makes other loosehead props look positively lethargic and the 21-year-old Joe Simmonds will approach Twickenham full of confidence despite never having played there before.
Owen Farrell steers Saracens to Premiership final in blitz over Wasps
The ultimate test, though, still awaits the young fly-half who kicked a nerveless 19 points against Newcastle to set alongside tries from Nic White, Olly Woodman and Armand. His opposite number Farrell knows Twickenham rather better and slotted 11 out of 11 kicks against Wasps in a display that impressed his team-mates and coaches alike. “The guy’s incredible,” said his Lions Test colleague Jamie George. “He just keeps getting better and better. From what we’ve seen here, the more leadership and responsibility he is given, the better he gets.”
Coincidentally, Farrell is due to have his stag weekend on the same weekend as Dylan Hartley, from whom he has just inherited the England tour captaincy, and Saracens’ director of rugby, Mark McCall, feels Eddie Jones has an increasingly key decision to make at No 10 in South Africa. “Owen had a brilliant game and was outstanding for us,” said McCall. “It is going to be a big call for Eddie where he plays him in South Africa. For me his best position is at 10 but I know Owen is happy to play wherever is best for the team.”
This week, though, will be all about satisfying Saracens’ ambition to avoid a trophy-less season for the first time since 2013-14. “This is our fourth final in five years and we have been in three Champions Cup finals in five years,” said McCall. “To have those kind of tallies is an incredible achievement from the whole group but we want to go and win it now. You saw in the first 20 minutes against Wasps – which was maybe as good as we have ever played – the real intent and desire in the group to do that.”
Two seasons ago, Sarries defeated a slightly off-key Exeter 28-20 in the final, but this year’s rematch could be a modern classic.