Twickenham showpiece thrills time and again, and it helped that this one featured one of the teams of this or any ageOnce again this grand-final concept repays. There are still those who grumble about it – and there is no doubt the idea of a nine-month (soon to be longer) slog through the dark English midwinter and out the other side just to establish four top seeds can feel a bit like overkill – but, time and again, the showpiece at Twickenham thrills. Professional club rugby, the mechanism through which any growth of the sport in England must be transmitted, is never better showcased. Related: Jamie George try caps stirring comeback as Saracens retain their title Continue reading...
Rob Baxter’s team have the variety in their attack to carry a significant threat against champions Saracens at TwickenhamExeter have come in for a fair bit of criticism in the last week or two for their supposedly “boring” style of play but I don’t believe it’s justified and I use WWF (as it was known when I was growing up) to demonstrate why. Back then every single wrestler – the Big Show, the Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin, the Undertaker – was not known for their wrestling style, they were known for their finishing moves. I see Exeter’s “finishing move” as their ability to score tries from driving lineouts five metres from the opposition’s line and that is what they...
Saracens will be a formidable barrier but Rob Baxter’s team are capable of overturning last year’s final outcomeIt is easy to see why so many people think this year’s Premiership trophy is destined to remain in north London. Saracens, the holders, are already champions of Europe, are oozing class and were comfortably too good for Exeter in last year’s final. Even when they embark on three-day benders before big games they emerge victorious.There is also the recurring question of whether Exeter’s relentless power game is quite as irresistible when it slams into an impenetrable defensive wall and the Chiefs’ primary instrument of control is blunted. Related: Exeter into final after Tom O’Flaherty’s solo try lights up win over Northampton Related:...
With community a core value, it is about more than rugby for the kings of Europe and now Premiership play-off contendersWhen Saracens played their first European Cup final, against Toulon in 2014, it was a meeting of two clubs who had approached the venue in Cardiff from opposite directions. The French club, owned by the impatient Mourad Boudjellal, aimed to buy success, recruiting players, many of them World Cup winners, from around the world; the Premiership side, encumbered by a less generous salary cap, looked to build something lasting.Toulon’s approach yielded three consecutive European Cups and a Top 14 title but five years on only two of the players involved in the 23-6 victory are still with the club. In...
A potential successor to Eddie Jones is the Ulsterman who has masterminded his club’s rise to the European summitIt has been a long time since the Rugby Football Union trusted anyone from a high-profile English club side to coach its national team. In theory the Premiership is its most productive source of track-suited talent but Twickenham usually prefers to look the other way. Eddie Jones, Stuart Lancaster, Martin Johnson, Brian Ashton, Andy Robinson … you have to go all the way back to Clive Woodward in 1997 to find someone who was employed within the domestic club game at the time of his appointment. Related: Mark McCall ensures Saracens’ dominance is set to run and run | Robert Kitson Continue...