The English champions have been toppled might be one way of looking at this. Another is that Saracens have simply reiterated their status as by some distance the best side in England.
Last season they surrendered their domestic crown to Exeter but there was little doubt even then that they were the best side in England. They proved themselves comfortably the best side in Europe – and England is in Europe – but a trip to Exeter for the Premiership semi-final the weekend after their triumph in Europe proved an assignment too far – just.
Further doubt was cast over Saracens’ status in the bleak midwinter, when they suffered seven defeats in a row, one a humiliating home defeat by Clermont in Europe. The midwinter can prove a time of demons even for champions, it seems.
One finding – and one that remains difficult to refute – is that when the playing field is clear and level, Saracens are the best in England – and there is daylight between them and the rest. On this form even Leinster, now wearers of the European crown, would have their work cut out.
Exeter have stormed English rugby over the past decade or so with an unanswerable verve that has not only earned them that Premiership title last season but the affection of anyone with a heart. Again Twickenham shook to the chanting of their raucous following, as the Chiefs worked their phases. But when it came to match-winners, players who know the highest stages and how to win on them, there was only one team in it.
A controversial theory has developed that Exeter’s style of rugby, victory by weight of possession, is becoming bad for English rugby. Here it just seemed bad for Exeter. Fundamentally it is little different from how Munster, Leinster and indeed Ireland have earned their gongs this century but it is a policy that can turn on its perpetrators. An even more controversial theory is that in England no one is allowed to compete at the breakdown. No one told Saracens that. Jackson Wray, Maro Itoje and Alex Lozowski were among those who stole in to plunder Exeter’s breakdown – which is when the trouble starts.
The All Blacks will argue that it is uncool to hold so much possession, and Saracens had the calibre of player to show why. It was 10 minutes before they had the ball in their hands. Within another 10 they had scored the two tries by which they, if not won the game, put Exeter firmly in their place.
The problem with hogging all the ball over the course of a season is that one’s defence does not get the meaningful practice it might otherwise. If ever there was a team to exploit that, it is this Saracens side. Which is not a reflection of any particular tactical quirk of theirs – just that they are a side made up of exceptionally good rugby players.
Owen Farrell, who finished with cramp, and the untouchable Alex Goode set up the first try with three kicks between them, high on improvisational genius, to breach Exeter’s first line. When Billy Vunipola was fed from a couple of yards out the try was inevitable, dodgy hamstring or not.
If that try owed much to genius, the second – the first of Chris Wyles’s double on his final performance – seemed far too easily offered up by an Exeter defence simply bewildered. Again it was Farrell and Goode who supplied the creative axis to bewitch defenders simply unused to such a variety of angles and skills. There were similar tales to tell of tries three and four in the second half.
No question, then, who the better side is but, as for the club, that is a moot point. Saracens can point to their players, Exeter to their balance sheet. The notion Exeter might be bad for English rugby certainly cannot apply off the field, where they continue to show the debt-ridden English game how to manage themselves. Rob Baxter highlighted afterwards that his side is the youngest in the Premiership. Only four of his starting team here started the final last season. They already have a Premiership title behind them and the impression that the future is theirs to shape is powerful.
For now, though, this is the era of the Saracens.
