Saracens became the dominant team in Europe through never knowing when they were beaten, a quality that also ripples through Exeter who – thanks to a try with the final blow of a heavyweight bout – will on Saturday play in their second successive Premiership final seven years after promotion to the top flight.
Saracens looked to have made their fourth final in succession when Mike Ellery scored a try with a flamboyant finish five minutes from time, vaulting over Henry Slade’s tackle in the manner of an American footballer to put his side 16-13 ahead and imperil Exeter’s streak of 15 matches unbeaten in the Premiership.
The champions had not been themselves, missing their captain Brad Barritt, losing two players – Michael Rhodes and Chris Ashton – to injuries in the first 10 minutes and looking either side of the interval as if the rigours of the season, not least the Champions Cup final victory over Clermont Auvergne the previous week and the outpouring of emotion in Edinburgh, had caught up with them.
Exeter are Saracens in a different jersey. Ellery’s try would have deflated most teams and, with two minutes left, the Chiefs were where their opponents wanted them, throwing the ball about in their own half in the small hope a hole would open up. There were 90 seconds to go when the Chiefs were awarded a scrum on their 10-metre line, their fifth of the match from the set piece.
A final tilt at destiny beckoned. Henry Slade, who had been on the field for only 11 minutes after replacing the full-back Phil Dollman, – whose running from deep had troubled Saracens – took the kick to touch which favoured a left-footed kicker. Both Gareth Steenson and Owen Farrell had failed to turn penalties into lineouts earlier in the match through being too greedy for territory but Slade, who had the wind with him, needed every metre for the club with the most productive driving maul in the league.
Like a golfer second on the leaderboard at the final hole on the last day of a major attacking the flag from the fairway, Slade went long, very long. There was a point when it looked as if the Saracens’ full-back Alex Goode would field the ball a few metres in front of his own line but, as he prepared for the catch, the ball swung away from him and over the touchline to the roar of the capacity crowd whose mood suddenly turned from fearful to expectant.
No side in the Premiership is more threatening from a driving lineout. Dave Dennis, who had earlier survived a clash of heads with Mako Vunipola, took the catch and, as Saracens looked to defend the drive, three Exeter backs joined in and the maul slewed to the left. Sam Simmonds, who arrived on the field at the same time as Slade having replaced the Chiefs’ mauler-in-chief Thomas Waldrom, spun away and, with four colleagues behind him, surged over the champions’ line where Owen Farrell and Duncan Taylor were unable to prevent him grounding the ball.
It was an extraordinary end to a match that had been evenly contested by two worthy finalists. Saracens dominated the opening 20 minutes, keeping possession and using the Vunipola brothers, Mako and Billy, to apply body blows to tacklers, but their only points came from two Farrell penalties. A feature of Exeter’s season has been their ability to regain their shape immediately after a missed tackle and the champions’ only chance came when Farrell’s chip to the line for Chris Wyles was anticipated by Jack Nowell who, having got up after making a tackle, ran on the diagonal to beat the American to the bounce over the line.
Nowell was one of seven 2017 Lions on the pitch, the only one who will not be in Dublin with the tourists next week. He was exceptional again, a fire that never goes out, and he helped inspire Exeter’s comeback in the second quarter. It started when Saracens had a penalty close to the Chiefs’ posts that would have given them a nine-point cushion had not Richard Wigglesworth taken it quickly only to find space closed down immediately.
Schalk Burger’s misplaced pass to Mako Vunipola relieved the pressure for Exeter and, when Farrell’s pass to Goode went to ground, James Short picked up and took play into the champions’ 22. It marked a momentum shift and, after a third penalty was put into touch for no reward, Steenson accepted three points after 26 minutes and again on the half-hour to level the scores.
It was 6-6 at half-time although Exeter three times found their way over the line. Ollie Devoto was held up, Waldrom was stopped by Billy Vunipola who first saved a try and then won a penalty for not releasing and Nowell was hauled down by Wigglesworth after squeezing through a slit space vacated in between George Kruis and Burger.
The interval came at an opportune time for Saracens who needed to regroup. As well as struggling in the scrum, their lineout was not yielding its normal fruit, not least because of the poaching of Geoff Parling. They were forced to attack with phase rather than set-piece possession and, when Nowell scored Exeter’s first try two minutes after the restart following Dollman’s break, Exeter scented wounded prey.
Saracens are never more dangerous than when they are threatened. They hauled themselves off the floor and a 16-phase move ended with Wyles scoring in the left-hand corner. The arrival of Schalk Brits for Jamie George had given the team chasing a double double impetus but time seemed to be passing them by when, after Simmonds had thwarted an attack with a turnover, Brits’s overhead pass gave Ellery the space to get near enough to the line to leap high.
Saracens were in a position they do not lose from but Exeter had all afternoon been gripped by an inner belief that this was their moment. They had one more chance; it was all they needed.
