Exeter still on the up, Wasps feel the noise, Scarlets in nod to Super Rugby and Leigh Halfpenny provides good news for Lions and Richard Cockerill
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
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