Not since 2021 have Exeter finished in the Prem top four, hence the heartfelt Devon roar at the final whistle. To beat their old rivals Saracens to a playoff place made the result all the sweeter given the frequently acrimonious history of this fixture. It will be the Chiefs who progress to next Saturday’s semi-final, where they will face Bath at the Rec.
In doing so, they officially drew the curtains on Mark McCall’s 15-year tenure in charge of Sarries. This is absolutely not how the Ulsterman or his players wanted it to end, but, for a while, this was exactly McCall’s type of game: hard, unforgiving and intense. By the end, though, the visitors were very much second-best to opponents whose physicality and endurance could yet make them tricky knockout customers.
They certainly had too much in the tank for Saracens, who had won on only one of their previous eight trips to this reliably breezy venue. Their prospects of improving that strike-rate started to fade from the moment Henry Slade scored and subsequently converted his side’s second try after 46 minutes with the visitors down to 14 men after Charlie Bracken was sent to the sin-bin.
To a large extent the game turned on Bracken’s yellow card, awarded just before half-time when Exeter were attacking with purpose down the right and the scrum-half illegally knocked down Slade’s attempted pass to his winger Campbell Ridl. From the ensuing penalty kick to touch, a smart front-of-the-lineout move worked hooker Max Norey over in the corner and the whole tenor of a blustery West Country afternoon changed.
Exeter Woodburn; Brown-Bampoe, Slade, Ikitau (Wimbush 74), Ridl; Skinner, Varney; Sio (Burger 62) Norey (Dweba 62), Iosefa-Scott (Tchumbadze 62), Jenkins (capt; Tuima 72), Zambonin, Hooper, Tshiunza, Roots (James 47).
Tries Norey, Slade, Zambonin, Varney. Cons Slade 3. Pens Slade 2.
Saracens: Malins; Elliott, Tompkins, Hartley, Segun (Caluori,54); Burke (Farrell 54), Bracken (Van Zyl 66); Mawi (Carre 45), George (Dan 54), Street (Riccioni ht), Itoje (capt), Tizard (Michelow 66), McFarland (Isiekwe 54), Earl, Willis.
Tries Elliott, Isiekwe. Con Farrell. Yellow card Bracken 40.
Referee Karl Dickson.
Among other things, it was the first time Exeter had been ahead. In the pre-match huddle, Jamie George could be seen spelling out a few non-negotiables with the desire to give McCall a proper send-off high on the agenda. The latter has presided over many of Saracens’ greatest days, but once the visitors had fallen 18-5 behind with 30 minutes left there was never likely to be a happy ending.
Rob Baxter will be suitably pleased with his team’s defensive appetite and intent, even in the absence of Manny Feyi-Waboso. The talented winger had a plate inserted in his jaw this week, but England are still insisting he can be back to face South Africa in Johannesburg on 4 July. Good luck with that gentle, forgiving reintroduction to full contact.
The Chiefs were also missing the influential Greg Fisilau and, to compound everything else, contrived to present Sarries with an early gift. Harvey Skinner’s restart drop-out from his own line sailed out on the full, giving the visitors a five-metre attacking scrum that led to a try wide on the right for Tobias Elliott.
Gloucester sealed their Champions Cup place with a convincing 54-21 victory over bottom-placed Newcastle as the bonus-point win was enough to deprive Harlequins of the eighth and final spot.
It was not all plain sailing for Gloucester as they trailed at the end of the first quarter, but they proceeded to blow away their opponents, starting with a four-try blitz. Ben Redshaw scored a hat-trick and Arthur Clark, Caolan Englefield, Max Llewellyn, James Venter (pictured) and Seb Blake were also on the scoresheet, with Charlie Atkinson converting seven from eight.
George McGuigan, Tom Christie and Simón Benitez Cruz scored Newcastle’s tries, all three converted by a combination of Brett Connon (two) and Ben Healy (one).
Tom Lawday’s try with his final touch as a Harlequins player earned his club a 38-31 victory over Northampton, the leaders. It is a still a campaign Quins will want to put behind them, though, as the loss meant they finished ninth and missed out on qualification for the Champions Cup. A much-changed Saints led four times at the Stoop before losing out at the death – they now have a home semi-final against Leicester to look forward to on Friday.
Lawday's big moment arrived off the final play when Alex Dombrandt got away down the right and passed to Cadan Murley, who rode James Pater’s attempted tackle before giving the departing back-row his perfect send-off.
Sale’s disappointing campaign ended on a high with a comfortable 38-17 bonus-point win over an understrength Bristol to confirm their place in the Champions Cup.
Alex Sanderson’s Sharks have made the play-offs in the past three seasons but ended this one in seventh, their lowest position since 2018-19. They needed only a point to guarantee a Champions Cup place and a dominant first-half display laid the platform for a thumping six-try win over a Bristol side who finished this season in sixth.
Chiefs’ lineout was also spluttering and their only points in the first half-hour came from a penalty from Slade, wearing a headband to protect the ear he damaged against the Tigers. Neither side found the conditions easy and it needed someone to grab a cagey game by the scruff. Fergus Burke thought he had done so when he sliced clear and fed Rotimi Segun outside him, only for the winger to be denied by a superb last-ditch tackle by a full-stretch Slade.
Cue Bracken’s card and Norey’s score moments before the interval that totally changed the dynamic of the contest. Eager to capitalise on their numerical advantage, the Chiefs stepped up the pace and, from turnover ball, Ridl and Olly Woodburn ate up 50 metres before feeding Slade to score.
The man of the match – the league’s top points-scorer – ended up harvesting 17 points, including a second penalty and the conversion of a third Chiefs try in the 64th minute by their Italian lock Andrea Zambonin. By now McCall’s Saracens crusade was effectively over, but having been scoreless for more than an hour they did engineer a consolation try through Nick Isiekwe.
While Owen Farrell’s conversion – nailed from wide out in defiance of much local barracking – also applied a temporary gloss to the scoreboard, the last laugh belonged to the lively Stephen Varney who scored a popular late kick-and-chase try.
Baxter was even able to withdraw some senior men early with an eye on the next game; it would be quite a turn-up if the Chiefs, after a grim time last year, reach Twickenham, but stranger things have happened.
