1
Saracens and Exeter Chiefs name teams for Gallagher Premiership final
Saracens have named an unchanged starting XV for the Gallagher Premiership final against Exeter Chiefs. It means captain Brad Barritt will begin the showpiece at Twickenham. The 32-year-old has recovered from the hamstring injury which forced him off in Sarries’ semi-final victory over Gloucester.
ADVERTISEMENT
Seventeen of the 23 featured in last year’s final. Richard Barrington, Will Skelton and Ben Spencer start this time around while Liam Williams slots in on the wing having missed the triumph through injury.
Spencer and Williams both crossed for the Men in Black in last weekend’s win with winger Sean Maitland, selected on the left once more, also dotting down. The other three tries were scored by the latest club centurion Nick Tompkins who will look to make a similar impact from the bench.
Tom Woolstencroft joins the centre there in the only amendment to the matchday squad meaning prop Ralph Adams-Hale – one of 10 Academy products picked – will cap off a remarkable personal season with an appearance at Twickenahm. Fellow front rower Christian Judge will make his last outing as Saracens player as will club legend David Strettle.
Team's up!
Your Saracens team to face Exeter Chiefs in the @premrugby final at Twickenham.
Come on Sarries! ?? pic.twitter.com/wcKqVhUVBW
— Saracens Rugby Club (@Saracens) May 31, 2019
Director of rugby Mark McCall said: “We’re hugely grateful to the staff and entire playing group for their commitment throughout the campaign to get us in this position. Everyone has contributed hugely to get us to where we want to be.”
Saracens Team:
15 Alex Goode
14 Liam Williams
13 Alex Lozowski
12 Brad Barritt ©
11 Sean Maitland
10 Owen Farrell
9 Ben Spencer
ADVERTISEMENT
1 Richard Barrington
2 Jamie George
3 Vincent Koch
4 Will Skelton
5 George Kruis
6 Maro Itoje
7 Jackson Wray
8 Billy Vunipola
16 Tom Woolstencroft
17 Ralph Adams-Hale
18 Christian Judge
19 Nick Isiekwe
20 Mike Rhodes
21 Richard Wigglesworth
22 Nick Tompkins
23 David Strettle
In a week when Rob Baxter himself has come out fighting at claims his Exeter side are ‘one-dimensional and boring’, the Chiefs Director of Rugby is hoping his players have the same combative tendencies when they run out at Twickenham
It is a fourth successive Premiership final for Exeter, having dispatched Northampton Saints 42-12 in last weekend’s semi-final at Sandy Park and they’ve named the same 23-man squad for his weekend’s clash with Sarries.
ADVERTISEMENT
Having toppled a full-strength Sarries outfit at Sandy Park back in December, it was the Londoners who won the corresponding fixture at the start of May when both teams opted to rest key personnel.
On both occasions, the Chiefs opted for the tactics of trying to rumble their way over from kicks to the corner, rather than shots at goal. It’s a philosophy that has served the Devonians well in recent times, but according to their leader it’s not a tactic that they always have to go for.
“As a philosophy, we leave it to the players to decide, which is what we do now, so it’s no different,” added Baxter. “We won the final by kicking penalties come the death, so it’s not like we are adverse to doing it, or can’t do it. It’s how you build a performance you want over 80 minutes.
? – TEAM NEWS: Here is your @ExeterChiefs side to face @Saracens in tomorrow's @premrugby Final at Twickenham tomorrow (3.00pm) ??https://t.co/u2OAWFgPsn pic.twitter.com/KTDIwnxppg
— Exeter Chiefs (@ExeterChiefs) May 31, 2019
“The Christmas performance when we beat Saracens – I don’t mind telling you want we did – we went to the corner. We didn’t score from the first time we went there, we actually got turned over, but we scored from their lineout.
“There’s more than one way to create pressure by deciding if you go to the corner or the posts. A couple of years ago, Gareth Steenson knocked eight penalty goals over. He felt it was the right thing to do at the time and I think we knocked over 21 or 24 points worth of penalties, so we are capable of doing it.
“What I want the guys to do is to do what they feels gets them on the front foot and gets them most control in the game. “
As expected, Baxter sticks with an unchanged match-day 23 from that which won last weekend’s semi-final against Northampton.
“We’ve been able to pick this week from our strongest group of players that we’ve had all season, which is fantastic,” he said. “It’s great to see Sam Simmonds and Sam Skinner get more game time after being out for a long period.
“That creates a really decent group of back five forwards which we will need over the 80 minutes and then I think we are aware that we have two good front rows and we need to make sure we utilise the work out of them over the 80 minutes.
“I think we have it in us, but we are going to have to be good because at the end of the day, it’s like an all-international clash, isn’t it? That’s what it comes down to and if it was England v Wales, we’d be saying the same thing. It comes down to the guys that lock it down on the day and get it right.”
Exeter Team:
15 Jack Nowell
14 Alex Cuthbert
13 Henry Slade
12 Ollie Devoto
11 Tom O’Flaherty
10 Joe Simmonds
9 Nic White
1 Ben Moon
2 Jack Yeandle (capt)
3 Harry Williams
4 Dave Dennis
5 Jonny Hill
6 Dave Ewers
7 Don Armand
8 Matt Kvesic
16 Luke Cowan-Dickie
17 Alec Hepburn
18 Tomas Francis
19 Sam Skinner
20 Sam Simmonds
21 Jack Maunder
22 Gareth Steenson
23 Sam Hill
WATCH: The new episode of Don’t Mess with Jim sees former Saracens player Hamilton preview the Gallagher Premiership final
Comments on RugbyPass
Why cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
4 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to comments