For Northampton Saints and Exeter Chiefs, this Gallagher Prem season will end as it began. It feels a long while ago that the pair embarked on their domestic campaigns in the shadow of the Women’s World Cup final but, as they prepare to dance again on a grander stage, the opening round meeting between the pair at Franklin’s Gardens is worth reflecting upon. It feels, in a way, a fixture of a different time, occurring too early in the season for Northampton’s British and Irish Lions to play a part and before Exeter’s impactful Australian additions had even arrived in the country.
And yet, within the details, were clues and cues for the season that has followed. Northampton’s establishing a 33-7 half-time lead came courtesy of a try from Tom Litchfield, launching his breakthrough campaign as the latest back off the production line; Exeter’s superb counteroffensive was inspired by Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, so influential when fitness has permitted a place on the park. There was a certain symmetry to how the Chiefs roared back to snatch a draw on the opening weekend and the second-half surge in the semi-final at the Rec that has set up their Twickenham trip. They, as in September and last week, begin as underdogs; Northampton will recognise from experience that this Chiefs team doesn’t know when it is beaten.
