It has been a wintry week in the south-west but here was something to warm local hearts. As well as securing a home-and-away double over Saracens in the Premiership this season, Exeter sit seven points clear at the top of the table, a home play-off semi-final increasingly within their reach.
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This was also an encouraging outcome for Eddie Jones, with Sam Simmonds and Henry Slade returning from injury layoffs before England’s Six Nations trip to France on Saturday. It proved an excellent day for the Simmonds family all round, with 12 points from the boot of the 21-year-old Exeter fly‑half Joe helping to swing a hard-fought contest.
Victory was a fitting reward for the snow-clearing efforts of dozens of staff – from the chairman, Tony Rowe, downwards – the kick-off having been postponed for 24 hours to ensure the pitch was playable. Considering the recent weather the surface was in remarkably good nick; so, when it mattered most, were Exeter. With five regular-season games left, their director of rugby, Rob Baxter, acknowledged that securing top spot is now “in our hands”.
If they have been helped somewhat by facing Saracens twice during international windows, there was no doubting the strength of Exeter’s second-half display against the wind, nor the turbo boost supplied by their bench. Sam Simmonds did not remotely look like a man who has been sidelined since injuring a shoulder against Wales last month, while Slade is once again displaying the kind of class England’s midfield has been crying out for.
At least Saracens could console themselves with the spirit they displayed. No fewer than 18 squad members were unavailable because of injury or international duty – although they still turned up with Test players occupying two-thirds of their starting XV. Slowing Exeter’s momentum was clearly a priority and their defensive line speed suggested a team stung into renewed action by their home defeat to Leicester a week earlier last weekend.
Even so, the Chiefs enjoyed the bulk of possession and territory in both halves and might have won more easily had they taken full advantage of the breeze at their backs in the first 40 minutes. Despite a trio of penalties from Joe Simmonds, starting at fly-half to allow Gareth Steenson some rare respite, it was the visitors who scored the first try, Brad Barritt and Marcelo Bosch combining to send the highly promising flanker Ben Earl bursting past a wrong-footed Olly Woodburn.
Saracens might already have scored had Chris Wyles not put a foot on the touchline before touching down in the left corner. The Chiefs suddenly needed to get a grip. Eleven purposeful attacking phases duly stretched the cover enough to put a flying Phil Dollman over at the other end, with the replacement prop Alec Hepburn involved three times in the buildup.
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There was still time before the interval for the visitors to catch out Exeter again, Schalk Brits burrowing beneath a pile of bodies to complete a successful lineout drive. The Saracens’ captain, Barritt, failed to emerge for the second half and the similarly experienced Wyles also had to be replaced two minutes after the restart, propelling the youthful Max Malins and Rotimi Segun into the firing line.
The Chiefs, in contrast, possessed a seasoned bench and the arrival of the visibly energised Sam Simmonds always felt like a potential turning point. So it proved, a fourth penalty from his brother extending the hosts’ lead before a series of one-sided attacking scrums saw an inevitable penalty try awarded.
With only Jack Nowell and Harry Williams of Exeter’s England contingent unavailable, the Saracens’ director of rugby, Mark McCall, can only hope the return of Owen Farrell, Maro Itoje et al alters the equation should these sides meet again in May.
“I genuinely think Premiership Rugby are trying not to put us against teams in these periods who don’t lose as many international players,” McCall said. “We were just unfortunate today Sam Simmonds and Henry Slade were both coming back from injury. We had a few more people away on international duty than they did.”
Despite resources being seriously stretched, he opted not to pick Wales’s Liam Williams and Scotland’s Sean Maitland (“It makes no sense to us to expose them to continuous rugby at this time of year”) with an eye on the “bigger picture” of Saracens’ European quarter-final against Leinster on Easter Sunday.