Chiefs book semi-final slot

A week ago it appeared Exeter's Anglo-Welsh dream was hanging by a thread following their defeat at Worcester. Tonight, it's alive and kicking as the Chiefs booked themselves a home semi-final against Newcastle Falcons with this seven-try victory over visiting Saracens.

Having surrendered top spot to Harlequins heading into the final round of pool games, the odds were seemingly staked against Devon's finest with the Londoners needing to collect just a solitary point from their own trip to Northampton Saints on Friday night to ensure they would be the side to advance from Pool 2.

What transpired, however, was just the ticket for the Chiefs as not only did Northampton prosper 36-10 to seal their own semi-final spot - but, more importantly, they denied Harlequins any kind of reward and left them stranded on 15 points. That in turn meant Exeter would need to collect a maximum haul of their own to seal the all-important top spot.

With one half of the equation resolved, Ricky Pellow sent his Chiefs side into battle with a clear and precise message - win, collect four tries, and in the process try and score as many points as possible.

And, as it turned out, his players delivered on every front, scoring seven tries through Tom O'Flaherty (2), Ollie Devoto (2), Moray Low, Jack Maunder and Paul Davis, while fly-half Joe Simmonds completed the scoring by landing four conversions with his right boot.

Saracens, to their credit, played their part in front of a near sell-out crowd and headed home with four tries of their own, courtesy of Tom Whiteley, Rotimi Segun, Max Malins and Tom Lindsay. However, it was never enough to thwart the Chiefs, who will now ready themselves for a home semi-final against Newcastle Falcons next month.
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Exeter Chiefs winger Tom O'Flaherty scores one of his two tries in the Anglo-Welsh Cup win over Saracens at Sandy Park
Ahead of kick-off, Pellow made eight changes to his starting line-up from the previous week at Sixways. Into the pack came Jack Innard, Greg Holmes, Wilhelm Van Der Sluys and Thomas Waldrom, while behind there were starts for Maunder, Devoto, Phil Dollman and new signing Santiago Cordero on the right wing.

Saracens, already out of the reckoning in terms of qualification, arrived in the Westcountry with a largely second string line-up. However, there was still a sprinkling of genuine first-team experience with the likes of Will Skelton, Nick Tompkins, Alex Lozowski, Richard Barrington and Juan Figallo all included within their match-day 23.

With personnel in place for both sides, it was the Chiefs who - as you expected - came out firing all guns blazing.

For the full match repoert, go to: https://www.exeterchiefs.co.uk/news/chiefs-43-saracens-20