Saracens champions again as Chris Wyles leads conquest of Exeter

Saracens regained the Premiership title and secured their sixth trophy in four seasons after outplaying the champions at a hot and humid Twickenham.

Saracens did not touch the ball for the first 10 minutes, other than Sean Maitland dropping Nic White’s box-kick, but they only conceded three points to the boot of Joe Simmonds after Mako Vunipola wilfully conceded a penalty at a ruck.

Exeter’s trademark is taking play through multiple phases, but Saracens met them head-on and won the battle of the gainline. The Chiefs are not prone to panic or veering off script, but Sarries knew what to expect and when they did secure possession, it took them a couple of minutes to score a try.

READ MORE: England’s Rugby World Cup plans in chaos

READ MORE: Farrell excels as Sarries overpower Wasps in semi-final thriller

READ MORE: Ulster qualify for Champions Cup as Biggar makes history

Owen Farrell’s chip behind the onrushing defence was seized by Alex Goode. Saracens exploited a narrow defence to move the ball wide and then turned to power: the Vunipola brothers and Maro Itoje drove to the line before Billy Vunipola scored his first try in a season badly disrupted by injury.

Saracens showed more variety in attack than Exeter. The England head coach, Eddie Jones, was among the spectators and he watched Goode, a full-back he has turned his back on, stand at second receiver and make an arcing run outside Farrell which drew the defence in and gave Chris Wyles, who was making his final appearance for the club, space on the left wing.

Wyles’s second try, seven minutes after the restart, was the result of another swift handling move. Exeter struggled to achieve width, sucked into an enveloping defence with Saracens waiting for the moment to compete for the ball on the ground, and had used six of their replacements within 11 minutes of the restart.

Exeter were unbeaten in their previous four league meetings with Saracens and they never lost belief. They had struggled up front until changing their front row and they used a scrum penalty after 58 minutes to force an attacking lineout. They drove a maul to the line and when it collapsed, Schalk Brits, who had been on the pitch for six minutes in his final match for Saracens, was sent to the sin-bin. Exeter forced another lineout: Dave Ewers was held up over the line but Gareth Steenson, the match-winner in last year’s final against Wasps, scored from the resulting scrum after using Olly Woodburn as a decoy.

By the time Brits returned, Saracens had not only kept out Exeter but increased their lead through a Ben Spencer penalty. The Chiefs had been lassoed and Sarries were able to bring off Wyles five minutes from the end to receive an ovation from the crowd, along with Mako Vunipola, who in his 32nd match of a season that followed the Lions tour had got through the work of two players.

Wyles’s replacement, Nathan Earle, had the final word after another Goode loop and pass to create a winning scoreline that did not flatter Saracens.