To describe finishing fifth in the Premiership table as a failure is to ignore Exeter’s progress this season. The Chiefs would have enjoyed the play-offs but by every other measure this has been their most consistently successful campaign since being promoted in 2010. By next spring they may well have climbed higher still.
A glance at their overall stats underlines that upwardly-mobile impression. As well as defeating table-topping Northampton home and away they had a superior points difference to the Saints and their haul of 70 tries and 14 wins from 22 games are both club records at this level. With Jack Nowell, Henry Slade and Luke Cowan-Dickie all pushing strongly for England World Cup places and some smart new signings heading for Devon, the future is unquestionably bright.
Had it not been for a 26-25 home defeat to Gloucester in January – Gareth Steenson hit the post with a potential match-winning late conversion – Chiefs could easily have nudged Saracens out of the top four and finished third ahead of Leicester. “If we’d got into the top four I think we’d have been very competitive in the semi-final,” suggested their head coach Rob Baxter. “I think we’ve taken some great steps forward in our consistency, particularly at home.”
The only missing ingredient, perhaps, has been a ruthless killer instinct against sides lower down the table. That will come, if it has not already done so. This month’s pressure-laden win at Saracens was a highly significant milestone and Nowell feels European qualification and strong performances in two cup competitions also bode well. “It just shows we can play with the Saracens and Northamptons and can win those big games,” said the 22-year-old. “Obviously we like being in the top four but at the start of the season we said we’d like to be in the top six. Having achieved that we got a bit greedy and wanted more. We gave it a good run right to the end but a couple of results didn’t go our way.”
Sale, who won the corresponding fixture 55-12 last season, are just the latest opponents to find Chiefs hard to withstand on days when they summon the requisite energy and intent. The unsung wings Matt Jess and Ian Whitten were particularly prominent on Saturday and Baxter saw no value in lingering on Northampton’s decision to field a second team at Leicester.
“In past seasons the amount of points we’ve obtained would have got us into the top four. Our supporters are getting used to seeing us not just win but win well. We’re maturing as a side and have learned some lessons ... hopefully we’ll be better next year.”
There is every chance the reshuffled World Cup season could also favour Chiefs, particularly if Dave Ewers misses out on selection for England’s training squad. They will miss the popular Dean Mumm, who is returning to Australia with every chance of being restored to the Wallabies squad, but the experience of the incoming Julian Salvi and Geoff Parling promises to be no small compensation.
Cowan-Dickie, an increasing threat to Rob Webber’s place in the England hooker pecking order, and Slade also have plenty of improvement left in them and Sale eventually caved in, leaking seven tries in all. Two retaliatory scores from the impressive Josh Beaumont, plus 11 points missed from the kicking tee, though, ultimately tilted the mathematics too far in favour of Saracens, despite a late red card shown to Ross Harrison for punching Alex Brown.
The afternoon also ended early for Mark Cueto, whose yellow card for a deliberate knock-on meant he wound up his notable career in the sin-bin. Cueto and his fellow retiree Nathan Hines have both enjoyed distinguished careers, with the latter now set to take up a coaching role with Scotland. It would have been nice had Sale’s director of rugby, Steve Diamond, paid fond tribute to both of them after the game but he declined to speak to the media. Perhaps he did not wish to dwell on the sizeable dressing-room hole that will be left by the departure of two such senior pros.
Exeter Nowell (Bodilly, 78); Whitten, Slade, Hill (McGuigan, 46), Jess; Steenson, Chudley (Lewis, 54); Moon (Rimmer, 56), Cowan-Dickie (Yeandle, 56), Francis (Brown, 56), Mumm (capt), Lees (Welch, 68), Armand, White (Horstmann, 50), Waldrom.
Tries Whitten, Nowell, White, Jess 2, Slade, McGuigan. Cons Steenson 3. Pen Steenson.
Sin-bin Brown 77.
Sale T Arscott (Haley, 61); Brady, Leota, Tuitupou, Cueto; Cipriani (Ford, 67), Cusiter (Cliff, 54); Roberts (Harrison, 60), Taylor (Jones 60), Cobilas (Parker, 60), Mills (Paterson, 54), Hines, Braid (capt; Easter, 54), Seymour, Beaumont.
Tries Beaumont 2. Pens Cipriani 2 Red card: Harrison 77. Sin-bin Leota 54, Cueto 71.
Referee W Barnes. Att 12,642.
