Saracens 28 Chiefs 20

Saracens 28

Exeter Chiefs 20

Mark Stevens at Twickenham Stadium

In the end there was to be no fairytale ending for Exeter Chiefs, but boy did Rob Baxter's side put up an unbelievable fight.

Pitted against European and defending Aviva Premiership champions Saracens, Devon's finest picked themselves off the deck following a first half flooring to shock their rivals with a ferocious second half fightback.

In the end, the Chiefs didn't have quite enough in the tank as their spirited challenge was finally ended late on by a try from man of the match Alex Goode.

Having trailed 23-6 at the break to first half tries from Duncan Taylor and Chris Wyles, plus the boot of England star Owen Farrell, the Chiefs were transformed after the interval, stinging their rivals with converted tries from Jack Yeandle and Jack Nowell.

On both occasions Twickenham erupted as the full force of the Travelling Tribe - aided by the support of a number of fans from other Premiership clubs - looked to roar their heroes to victory.

Sadly, the Chiefs - who paraded the same starting XV that had defeated Wasps a week earlier - could not replicate the feats of Leicester City in football's Premier League and it was the Londoners, who were toasting a majestic seasonal double at the final whistle.

All season Saracens have been rugby's class act and on this occasion they were again able to parade a formidable line-up, many of whom had lifted the European Champions Cup just a fortnight ago. They were headed up by skipper Brad Barritt, one of nine England internationals in their starting ranks.

With personnel in place and conditions perfect, it was the Londoners who set off at a canter, opening the scoring inside three minutes as Farrell slotted his first points of the afternoon after the Chiefs were judged to have infringed at a ruck.

Farrell - a doubt heading into the game with a rib injury sustained against Leicester Tigers the week previous - then doubled his tally when he was able to land a simple kick from in front of the posts after Exeter hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie was singled out by referee Wayne Barnes for a no-arm tackle.

The Chiefs did their best to respond quickly to the early blows, but it took until the 24th minute before they were able to finally get themselves up and running, Steenson arrowing a sublime kick from wide on the left flank between the sticks after Don Armand had been taken out at a line-out by Maro Itoje.

Any hopes Exeter had of building on their score was soon doused as Farrell landed a third penalty just three minutes later, before Baxter’s side were floored with a quick one-two from the defending champions.

Taylor was the first over the whitewash, latching onto a Farrell grubber kick in behind Nowell; then Wyles raced over in the same corner when he fed off a pin-point pass from the Sarries No.10.

Farrell converted both scores to stretch his side’s lead to 20 points, only for the Chiefs to counter with a second Steenson penalty right on the stroke of half time after Will Fraser had flown off his feet trying to slow Exeter’s attacking ball.

HALF TIME SARACENS 23 EXETER CHIEFS 6

With a mountain to climb, the Chiefs knew they had to start the second half with a bang. Early inroads were certainly encouraging with Phil Dollman twice cutting through the middle, while a charge from Harry Williams threatened to cause problems until he was halted by the hulking frame of Itoje.

Exeter’s opening five minutes of the half offered more in attack then they had mustered throughout the first 40 minutes, but still they were unable to find their way through the miserly Sarries defensive line.

Undeterred, Baxter’s side continued to offer the greater threat, piling pressure on their rivals with some sustained attacks. It was mounting by the minute, eventually paying dividends when they won a scrum penalty off some outstanding work from replacement Tomas Francis.

Instead opting for the posts, Steenson kicked to the corner, the Chiefs won the resultant line-out and, just as they have done countless times this season, they rumbled their way over the line, Yeandle emerging from the mass of bodies to punch the air in delight for the converted score.

The score ignited not only the Chiefs, but the huge travelling tribe who had packed into all four corners of the famous rugby stadium. The ‘Tomahawk Chop’ was now in full cry as the Devonians looked to make further inroads into the scoreline.

The momentum was with Baxter’s side, but they were unable to add to their tally as the minutes ticked by.

That was until, the Chiefs attacked in unison once more, creating hot ball for their back division. Steenson offloaded to Slade, whose simple poss pass found Dollman in space. Still with work to do, the Welshman drew in the cover before feeding Nowell, who made no mistake to score in the right corner.

Steenson obliged with the extras and all of a sudden it was 'game on' again with just three points separating the two sides entering into the dying embers.

However, just as the Chiefs saw a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel, back roared the Saracens freight train, creating a decisive attack deep in Exeter territory. Initially it looked as though Baxter's side would prevail, but when the 'Men in Black' powered through on another attacking wave, it created the opening for them to find Goode, whose clever foot work saw him dance his way over the line.

It proved the knockout blow for the Chiefs who, although they kept going until the last blast of Wayne Barnes' whistle, were flattened come the end.

To a man, the Chiefs could not have performed any better and although the battle was lost on this occasion, you can bet you bottom dollar the war is far from finished. Baxter's braves will be back for more next season, so brace yourselves for another almighty journey.

Saracens: A Goode, C Ashton, D Taylor (M Bosch 73), B Barritt (capt), C Wyles; O Farrell (C Hodgson 68), R Wigglesworth (N De Kock 68); M Vunipola (R Barrington 66), S Brits (J George 52), P Du Plessis (J Figallo 52); M Itoje, G Kruis; M Rhodes (J Wray 52), W Fraser (J Hamilton 71), B Vunipola.

Tries - Taylor, Wyles, Goode; Conversions - Farrell (2); Penalties - Farrell (3)

Chiefs: P Dollman; J Nowell, H Slade, I Whitten (M Campagnaro 68), O Woodburn (J Short 56); G Steenson (capt), W Chudley (D Lewis 65); B Moon (A Hepburn 47), L Cowan-Dickie (J Yeandle 47, Cowan-Dickie 68, Yeandle 73), H Williams (T Francis 47); M Lees, G Parling (D Welch 64); D Ewers, J Salvi (K Horstmann 61), D Armand (J Salvi 65).

Tries - Yeandle, Nowell; Conversions - Steenson (2); Penalties - Steenson (2)

Referee: W Barnes

Attendance: 76,109