Exeter continue remarkable rise
The Premiership semi-final victory over Saracens was another coaching triumph for Rob Baxter and his management team at Sandy Park. It was not so much revenge for last year’s defeat in the final at Twickenham as confirmation that the Chiefs have improved since then, learning from each new experience in their remarkable rise this decade. Saracens have become the most proficient team in Europe at attacking from set pieces, able to create space out wide and score tries, a quality that helped them defeat Munster and Clermont Auvergne in the latter stages of the European Champions Cup. Exeter achieved an early advantage up front and Saracens were penalised five times in the scrum, where Mako Vunipola came under pressure while Geoff Parling so effectively disrupted the European Cup holders’ line-out that Owen Farrell had little quick ball from the top to launch; the home side fed off mistakes they forced. And Exeter reached the final from a line-out, mauling their way over the line. Not many teams beat Saracens; very few do so with the last play of a match. The Chiefs are evolving into a side that, like Sarries, adds up to even more than the sum of its parts. Paul Rees
• Match report: Exeter 18-16 Saracens
• Steenson: Exeter can win Premiership after ending Saracens run
Saracens remain a formidable force despite defeat
Saracens were rightly applauded off Sandy Park by both sets of supporters, despite having finished a narrow second. Had they defied their aching limbs and stayed on course for a double double it would have been a truly incredible effort; as Mark McCall rightly observed afterwards, they can still look back on this season with immense pride. In the cold light of day they missed the steadfast example of their injured captain, Brad Barritt, and found life distinctly awkward in the scrums. Even the best sides lose the odd match, however, and as back-to-back European champions, Saracens remain a formidable force. Robert Kitson
• Exeter pack shows there are worse things than Beast of Bodmin
Wasps feel the noise
The average Premiership crowd at the Ricoh this season is just shy of 20,000 after the second near sellout in a row – in the Premiership semi-final win over Leicester. That’s a near sellout of a 32,000-seat stadium, more than three times the size of Wasps’ previous home, which they struggled to fill at the best of times. They made the move just over two years ago. It’s an astonishing transformation and these new fans, wherever they have come from, seem to mean it. Yellow and black flags filled the stadium, as did the noise. The lesson would appear to be: play the rugby of the gods and they will come. Keep it up. Michael Aylwin
• Match report: Wasps 21-20 Leicester
• Beale in race to be fit for swan song in Premiership final
Leicester find some attacking flair
We knew Leicester would be stroppy and difficult up front – and they were – but they were able to stay in the game courtesy of the flashes of attacking flair that are becoming de rigueur these days, and which they have struggled at times to apply this season. Freddie Burns and Owen Williams lined up in the double-fly-half formation favoured by, among others, England and Wasps. Both tries featured the pair working sweetly together. Shame they are both leaving but Leicester could field a midfield next season of George Ford, Matt Toomua and Manu Tuilagi, which would not be too shabby. MA
Northampton need to beat Stade Français to keep Picamoles
Jim Mallinder’s response to reports in France that Louis Picamoles has a pre-contract agreement with Montpellier was pointed. “Yeah, what is that?” Exactly what the Montpellier owner, Mohed Altrad, meant when he said “we have what we call a pre-contract” is unclear but it is becoming increasingly obvious that Northampton are digging their heels in. There is said to be a compensation offer of €1.5m on the table as Picamoles has two years of a three-year contract remaining but while it seems increasingly clear he wants to return to France, Saints are determined to hang on the No8, comfortably their best player this season. He was actually well shackled by Connacht in the European Champions Cup play-off semi-final but if Northampton have any genuine hope of holding on to him they will have to beat Stade Français in Friday’s final – and they will need Picamoles at the fore to do so. Gerard Meagher
Scarlets resemble New Zealand Super Rugby side
The Scarlets became the first team to secure an away victory in a Pro12 semi-final when they overwhelmed Leinster with 15 men and held on for 43 minutes after Steff Evans was sent off. His dismissal, for tipping Garry Ringrose in a tackle, ended what had been an exhilarating exhibition of attacking play from both sides. The Scarlets looked more like a New Zealand Super Rugby side than a Welsh region, so far removed from the structured, formulaic approach of Wales that players such as Scott Williams and Jonathan Davies, encouraged at this level to take risks, were like a new model of an outdated car. Evans was involved in all of their three tries in the 27-15 win, scoring the first and helping create the others, and they were all about pace, deft hands, running from deep, clever lines run by support players, and ambition. Perhaps Wales will take note but the omission of the flanker James Davies, a forward of perpetual motion, from the summer tour squad, suggests not. When the Lions toured New Zealand in 1993, some provinces were running ahead of the All Blacks in terms of creativity and that may be how it will turn out in Wales. PR
Halfpenny boosts Lions and Cockerill
Good news for the Lions, better news for Richard Cockerill – Leigh Halfpenny appears to be hitting top gear as the season reaches a climax. He scored 21 points in Toulon’s 26-22 play-off victory over Castres ensuring the former Leicester director of rugby, temporarily in charge on the Cote d’Azur, has taken Toulon into the Top 14 semi-finals. And Cockerill will be hoping Halfpenny’s accuracy proves crucial again against La Rochelle before he joins the Lions. In the other semi-final Racing 92 travel to Clermont after Dan Carter edged his side past Montpellier in a bad-tempered affair. It ends any hope that he might play for the Baa-Baas at Twickenham but it seems the big-money stars are at least earning their corn. GM
