Rugby union: Exeter’s remarkable rise to the top
Twenty-five years ago, when the first European Cup was held, the Exeter Chiefs were a minor club languishing in the fourth tier of English league rugby, said Robert Kitson in The Guardian. Last Saturday, they completed their remarkable transformation from a minnow to a giant of the game by claiming the biggest prize in European club rugby. Their victory over Parisian side Racing 92 in this year’s final was a “compelling, roller-coaster of a contest”, said Gavin Mairs in The Sunday Telegraph. And fittingly, it went down to the wire. When Exeter “flew out of the blocks”, scoring two early tries to open up a 14-0 lead, the outcome had seemed all too “predictable”. But Racing 92 had other ideas, and began to “punch holes in Exeter’s defence”. By half time, the French side were only nine points adrift, and after the break they came back even more strongly.
With 15 minutes left, a penalty by Maxime Machenaud brought the score to a “hair-raising” 28-27, said Stephen Jones in The Sunday Times. Six minutes later, Tomas Francis was “sin-binned” for a deliberate knock-on and the Chiefs had to play out the match with only 14 men. Racing 92 then threw everything at the “thin line of Devon defenders”, launching attack after attack. But in one of the “great goal-line stands in the tournament’s history”, the Chiefs repelled every advance, before captain Joe Simmonds secured the match with a drop-kicked penalty in the dying seconds. The victory was a testament to the mental fortitude the Chiefs have acquired under their head coach Rob Baxter, said Daniel Schofield in The Sunday Telegraph. When he took over in 2009, they were still in the Championship; today, they bestride Europe. His is one of the great managerial performances in English sport – rivalling Brian Clough’s at Nottingham Forest.
Yet even now, Exeter are not universally admired, said Brian Moore in The Daily Telegraph. In the wake of Saturday’s triumph, there was the usual carping about the “monotony” of their rugby. They don’t, it’s true, play with the “gay abandon” of some sides: theirs is a clinical style which prioritises scoring tries from “short drives”. However, there are many ways to play this sport, and, in any case, the accusation of tedium seemed misplaced on Saturday, when “Exeter produced several exciting passages of play, including one marvellous set-piece move that should have ended with a try”. The good news for their fans is yet more silverware could be imminent, said Alex Lowe in The Times. On Saturday, the Chiefs have the opportunity to make it a double, when they face Wasps in the Premiership final at Twickenham. Having lost in agonising fashion at the same stage to Saracens last season, they will be determined to seal victory this time.