Saracens 35 Chiefs 3
Saracens 35
Exeter Chiefs 3
Mark Stevens at the StoneX Stadium
Capital Punishment may have been abolished back in 1965, but Saracens handed out their own bout of it to Exeter Chiefs in the final game of 2022.
Ruthless in the extreme, Mark McCall’s table-toppers showed no mercy to the Chiefs in a performance which has put them ten points clear at the summit of the Gallagher Premiership heading into the New Year.
Captain Owen Farrell was the lead executioner, wielding his rapier-like right boot around all four corners of the StoneX, but behind him his fellow henchmen were equally impressive, running in tries through Andy Christie, Sean Maitland, Marco Riccioni, Alex Lewington and Nick Tompkins.
All the Chiefs could muster in terms of a response was a solitary first half penalty for fly-half Joe Simmonds, who looked as beleaguered as his team-mates come the final whistle.
Sure, Saracens were ruthless in the way they went about dismantling the Devonians, but the visitors were also their own worse enemies at times, coughing up 17 penalties in total, 11 of which came in the second half when conditions were actually in their favour.
Ahead of kick-off, the Chiefs had arrived in London in buoyant mood. Five wins on the spin had given a renewed vigour to their charge on all fronts.However, this was an ‘acid test’ of where they stood against the league’s current leading light.
Disruption in terms of selection ahead of the game meant plans were forced to switch late on in the day, but the overall make-up of the side still looked good, including a first-ever Premiership start for young back-row forward, Greg Fisilau.
He was quickly into the arm-wrestle up front as both sides tore into each other like prized fighters. It was, however, the hosts who offered the game’s first real chance, Farrell releasing Max Malins, whose pass to his left just evaded the clutches of Maitland waiting out wide.
Undeterred, Sarries continued to push forward, winning a penalty just metres from the Exeter line. England hooker Jamie George - one of 20 Test internationals lining up in the home ranks - tapped quickly before offloading to the Vunipola brothers, Mako and Billy, the latter of whom was able to send Christie crashing over for the converted score, this despite the best attempts of Henry Slade to halt him in his tracks.
Although behind, Exeter’s response was good as first Christ Tshiunza countered with a mazy run down the left, then Jack Nowell caused similar trouble for the hosts with a break down the right.
A penalty award minutes later saw Simmonds put the Chiefs in prime position deep inside the home 22, but a messy line-out followed and the chance went as quickly as it came.
Despite playing into a howling wind and incessant rain, Rob Baxter’s side continued to offer a more than creditable threat to Saracens, who themselves were looking to bounce back from their first loss of the Premiership season just seven days earlier.
Simmonds finally got them up and running with a successful penalty midway through the half. However, that would be as good as it got as Saracens - under the guidance of Farrell - slowly started to exert their supremacy.
The home playmaker was the catalyst for his side’s second try on 23 minutes, his deft grubber kick in behind the rushing Chiefs defence, saw Maitland edge out Sam Maunder in the race for the line.
At 12-3 down, there was no real panic within the Chiefs ranks. Against the elements and just nine adrift, the coaches would happily have taken that outcome as their team headed for the half-time sheds.
Sadly, that deficit would be increased with the final play of the half when an isolated Nowell was penalised for holding on in the tackle. Farrell banged the penalty to the corner and with the resultant line-out, the Londoners fashioned a slick switch off the set-piece to send Riccioni over for the try, converted by Farrell.
HALF TIME: SARACENS 19 EXETER CHIEFS 3
It had been a sucker punch to concede on the stroke of half time, but the Chiefs re-emerged for the second half looking to make their own instant impact. With conditions now in their favour, the stage was set for them to go out and deliver a stellar second half show.
What followed, however, was troubling and much of it was down to their own making. A needless penalty from the kick-off helped Sarries alleviate the opening threat, before Santiago Grondona was harshly adjudged to have played the ball on the floor just minutes later.
Farrell did not need any second invitation to nudge his side further in front, slotting a routine 30 metre penalty with aplomb, before doubling the dose on 50 minutes when Aussie prop Scott Sio was the man picked out by referee Craig Maxwell-Keys for dropping a scrum.
Whereas the Chiefs had struggled to contend with the elements and the threat of Sarries in the first half, the home side had no such issues in the second period. To a man, the ‘Men in Black’ were all singing off the same hymn sheet, hitting every collision as if there very existence depended on it.
Even when the Chiefs had rare moments of possession, they struggled to do anything meaningful with it. Error after error were compounded with an indiscipline that allowed Saracens to put their rivals on the back foot with relative ease.
Josh Hodge produced a superb try-saving tackle to deny Maitland a second score, but he could did little to prevent replacement Lewington from claiming their all-important bonus point score on 72 minutes. The winger on hand to finish off an audacious ‘round the back’ pass from Farrell in the left corner.
Although the game was done and dusted, Sarries were far from finished and with the last play of the game, they rubbed further salt into the already exposed Exeter wounds with a fifth and final try.
Tompkins was the scorer on this occasion, the Welsh international rounding matters off when he peeled off the back of a driving maul to send the natives off to the bar, ready to celebrate New Year in style.
Saracens: A Goode, M Malins, E Daly (A Lozowski 11), N Tompkins, S Maitland (A Lewington 66); O Farrell, I van Zyl (A Davies 55); M Vunipola (E Mawi 66), J George (K Pifeleti 66), M Riccioni (E Bello 66); M Itoje, N Isiekwe (H Tigard 63); A Christie, J Wray (B Earl 52), B Vunipola.
Tries - Christie, Maitland, Riccioni, Lewington, Tompkins; Conversions - Farrell (2); Penalties - Farrell (2)
Chiefs: J Hodge; J Nowell (R O’Loughlin 63), H Slade, S Kata (T Hendrickson 66), O Woodburn; J Simmonds, S Maunder (T Cairns 63); S Sio (J Iosefa-Scott 53), J Yeandle (capt, D Frost 53), H Williams (P Schickerling 53); R van Heerden, J Gray (J Dunne 59); S Grondona, C Tshiunza (L Pearson 63), G Fisilau.
Penalty - J Simmonds
Referee: C Maxwell-Keys
Attendance: 10,500