thnks to Daniel Davis

By The Saracens
October 7 2024

It doesn’t seem that long ago that Exeter Chiefs were everyone’s favourite second team. Well at least until that happened! And now there is no team that Sarries take more delight in beating. The 2 teams have had very different starts to the season. Sarries have taken full points from their 1st 2 games, Chiefs just 2 bonus points and the teams sit at opposite ends of the table. On paper the Sarries’ team looked stronger even without the injured Maro Itoje. A bit of rotation at hooker saw Jamie George swapping places with Theo Dan. Nick Isiekwe replaced Maro and Theo MacFarland started in place of Andy O-Christie who got to put his feet up on the bench (or so he thought). No such luck for Juan-Martin Gonzalez who was back on the subs bench probably still suffering from jet lag.  The backs were unchanged. Chiefs were struggling with a number of injuries but were still able to field a solid looking 15 that included Ollie Woodburn and Feyi-Waboso in the backs, Sam Maunder at scrum half and Captain Jack Yeandle among the forwards.

The game started slowly – Sarries had most of the possession but didn’t manage to do much with it although the scrum once again looked solid. (perhaps a bit unlucky that Mr Dickson didn’t reward their efforts more positively). Segun made a hash of a pass from Daly that would have given him a clear run. After 8 minutes Theo MacFarland got a bang on the head and was replaced by O-Christie (permanently as it turned out so no rest for the wicked). Sarries won a penalty on halfway when Mr Dickson finally pinged Chiefs for going off their feet. Burke found a lovely touch and Sarries gave the Chiefs of old a bit of their own medicine with the unstoppable catch and drive, augmented by the irrepressible Nick Tompkins and being grounded by Jamie George. Loz’s  kick hit the posts but at 5-0 Sarries were up and running.

Exeter should have scored a few minutes later when a high kick was missed by young Tobias Elliott. Hayden-Wood picked it up and almost made it before a superb tackle from Fergus Burke turned him just short of the line. Great defence resulted in a Sarries’ penalty and the danger was cleared. Elliott made amends for his error from the next scrum. The ball came out to him just short of half way. A lovely shimmy and a dummy run outside him by a moustache-less Van Zyl allowed him to find the try line and give Loz a straightforward conversion. 12-0

Finally Mr Dickson awarded Sarries a scrum penalty after half an hour. Burke again looked dangerous but the Exeter defence held however we were playing advantage for a high tackle. The line-out produced a carbon copy of try #1 except this time it was Earl who grounded. Loz again converted for 19-0.

Chiefs then had a piece of luck when a poor Hodge kick ricocheted off Loz and bounced perfectly for Olly Woodburn allowing him to break and find Hodge again who scored for Chiefs and converted his own try. As we approached half time, Rhys Carre found himself clear. With a huge smile on his face he carried for a good 10m then, with all the deftness and delicacy of a stand-off, delayed his pass to Elliott who found Burke inside him, giving the flyhalf room to score his first Premiership try. Loz made a bit of a hash of the conversion but Sarries had a 24-7 lead and a bonus point wrapped up before half time.

This was a lovely confident positive first half performance but I’m always a little disquieted when it seems to be so easy. Sarries are rarely flat-track bullies and have a habit (understandably) of taking their foot off the gas a bit when they seem to have it won by half time.

It began to rain and the second half started ominously for Chiefs when Ben Hammersley  was yellow carded for head contact on O-Christie. The line out from the penalty was messy but Isiekwe retrieved the ball and found Elliott who made good yards before passing out to Earl on the stand-in winger for try #5. Loz’s conversion was once again just wide but the lead was now 29-7.

Carre once again showed his handling skills with some juggling, worthy of Billy Smarts Circus, at the back of the lineout. Exeter changed their front row and their fortunes began to improve. Hodge landed a superb 50:22 (although Isiekwe made a mess of their line-out). Sarries changed Carre (to loud applause for a good game in and out of the scrum)  and George for Mawi and Dan.

Chiefs were back up to strength, Segun put in a decent tackle to stop Woodburn, Elliott fumbled a 2^nd high ball (perhaps the only chink in his shining armour) and Loz put a lovely clearance to within 5m. Exeter changed their half backs, restoring Harvey Skinner to the 10 shirt, then incredibly Mr Dickson seemed to take against Eroni Mawi and awarded Exeter a scrum penalty (when it looked to us that Chiefs were being wheeled towards their own touchline). The astonished look on Mawi’s face was worth the ticket-price. No harm done and in fact Earl so nearly intercepted from the line out and would have been clear had he been able to hang on to a now rather slippery ball. Mr Dickson again penalised the Sarries’ scrum. This time it was Riccioni’s turn to look incredulous.

An injury to Theo Dan appeared worrying but just as Jamie George had stripped off again, Dan got back to his feet and carried on. Exeter launched a meaningful attack which led to another nice try and conversion by Hodge. 29-14. Still almost 20 minutes left. Time to consolidate. Time for Goode! Burke landed a lovely 50:22 which came to naught when the lineout was lost. Daly was doing excellent housework at the back and Goode as always delivered a masterclass in dealing with a wet slippery high ball and running down the clock. Several times Exeter kicked the ball to him in his 22, several times he marked it, the rest of the team wandered back to their own half and the clock ticked down. Enjoy him while you can – he is pure class, a swan among a flock of  geese.

With 10 minutes left, Riccioni took his leave for Ollie Hoskins and loud applause greeted the return of Juan-Martin Gonzalez from his exploits down under. Charlie Bracken joined us for the last 10 minutes: long enough to put in a couple of super tackles including one on the Exeter hooker (approximately twice his size).

And that was that. Another 5 point win. A superb first half . Perhaps understandably a bit of a drop off in the second but job done. Once again Tom Willis was awesome. Loz had another outstanding game in front of Steve Borthwick. Isiekwe, Carre, Tizard, Burke, Tompkins…. In fact it’s hard to think of someone who didn’t deliver the goods. Ben Earl was the official Man of the Match (probably the 2 tries did it for him) but to be honest, there was a justification for almost anyone

What began as a season of transition is looking good. Keep it up lads!

SARACENS:

Daly, Elliott (Goode), Lozowski, Tompkins, Segun, Burke, Van Zyl (Bracken); Carre (Mawi), George (Dan), Riccioni (Hoskins), Tizard, Isiekwe, MacFarland (Christie), Earl (Knight), Willis (Gonzalez).

EXETER:

Hodge, Fey-Waboso, Woodburn, Hawkins (Rigg), Hammersley, Haydon-Wood (Skinner), Maunder (Cairns) ; Goodrick-Clarke (Blose), Yeandle (Innard), Street (Iosefa-Scott), Dunne, Tchiunze (Tuima), Roots (Moloney), Capstick, Fisilau

SCORERS

Saracens (29) Tries: George, Elliott, Earl (2), Burke; Conv: Lozowski(2)

Exeter Chiefs (14); Tries: Hodge (2); Conv: Hodge (2)

Referee Karl Dickson