We are in the 27th year of the Premiership, a competition that started as the Allied Dunbar Premiership and had many labels over the years. I thought I’d take a look at the winners over those 27 years. The 3rd column is for Saracens fans to look over the history of those years. Sports runs in cycles and those cycles are clear top see over the history of the Premiership. A lot of experience left Saracens at the end of last season, none less than Owen Farrell, a special player who made his debut for Saracens in in 2008, making 254 appearances. The loss of both playmaker and leader cannot be underestimated. Saracens sit in 5th place after 11 games this season, with 6 wins under their belts. Exeter Chiefs have also lost a lot of key players over the last couple of years and after this match are now 9th with just 2 wins to their name. Both teams are rebuilding.
| Year | Champions | Saracens Table Position |
| 1997-98 | Newcastle | 2nd |
| 1998-99 | Leicester Tigers | 3rd |
| 1999-2000 | Leicester Tigers | 4th |
| 2000-2001 | Leicester Tigers | 5th |
| 2001-2002 | Leicester Tigers | 10th |
| 2002-2003 | Wasps | 8th |
| 2003-2004 | Wasps | 10th |
| 2004-2005 | Wasps | 5th |
| 2005-2006 | Sale Sharks | 10th |
| 2006-2007 | Leicester Tigers | 4th |
| 2007-2008 | Wasps | 8th |
| 2008-2009 | Leicester Tigers | 9th |
| 2009-2010 | Leicester Tigers | 3rd |
| 2010-2011 | Saracens | |
| 2011-2012 | Harlequins | 3rd |
| 2012-2013 | Leicester Tigers | 1st |
| 2013-2014 | Northampton Saints | 1st |
| 2014-2015 | Saracens | |
| 2015-2016 | Saracens | |
| 2016-2017 | Exeter Chiefs | 3rd |
| 2017-2018 | Saracens | |
| 2018-2019 | Saracens | |
| 2019-2020 | Exeter Chiefs | Relegated with Points Deduction |
| 2020-2021 | Harlequins | N/A |
| 2021-2022 | Leicester Tigers | 2nd |
| 2022-2023 | Saracens | |
| 2023-2024 | Northampton Saints | 4th |
It’s always a struggle to watch a game I know the team I support has lost, but I’m keen to see how this much depleted team played.
Saracens had an early penalty converted by Alex Lozowski to take the lead. There was some early controversy when Juan Martin Gonzalez received a yellow card after he lifted Jack Vermeulen over the top of a ruck. It was a bizarre clear out, Gonzalez lifted his hand in recognition. The Chiefs crowd, unsurprisingly was the card was too lenient, the benefit of the TV and the working through by the officials say it was right.
Chiefs had a strong attack, playing with a penalty in their pocket, the ref eventually blew his whistle after some good defending from Saracens. They rolled over from the resulting line out, with Jack Innard in possession of the ball, hard to defend a maul with a man down. The conversion went wide of the posts.
A textbook trackable by Tobias Elliot on Joe Hawkins is worth a mention, it was replayed several times by TNT. Olly Hartley had a good run through after Liam Williams had intercepted a pass, I do think it’s highly likely that Lozowski dropped the ball in the build up. Saracens were warned about shouting at the referee, not something we need to be seeing, especially with Saracens’ history of being walked 10! Personally I also don’t want to hear Chiefs fan doing their chant, that should have disappeared when their Native American branding did!
Chiefs scored just 5 points before Gozalez returned to the fray. The next score didn’t come until the 25th minute, in spite of Chiefs having another line out close to the Saracens line on 20 minutes, the full 8 forwards making a difference. Tobias Elliot having a fairly easy run in out on his wing, after Hugh Tizard had taken the ball through the middle, Elliot doing well as he put the ball down, taking to the air as a player was coming on to make the tackle. The conversion missed but Saracens had the lead back.
At this point I’m going to confess to pressing Fast Forward to the 48th minute as the score board wasn’t bothered again until the 50th minute. Chiefs missed touch with a penalty, with Brandon Jackson taking the ball, Saracens lost the ball as they went ahead. There was a nasty looking high tackle by Louie Johnson, it was clear Hammersley was falling as the was tackled however so it was deemed just a penalty. It was amusing to see the diminutive Stu Townsend pulling at the rather large Eroni Mawi after he gave away a penalty in the maul. Chiefs fell just short in the maul at their second attempt, but Will Rigg made no mistake with just Gonzalez to evade as the ball was passed out to him. I have no idea who the Scottish commentator was, but his language – ‘trampling Saracens in the dirt (???)’ – he’s clearly not a fan of the London club. It was a good try, but, really? Another conversion was missed but Chiefs had a 2 point lead.
Tobias Elliot added to his tally after Ivan van Zyl put a high kick up, Hammersley dropped the ball and Elliot pounced after a lucky bounce. Lozowski converted the try, Hallelujah! That gave a 5 point lead to Saracens.
A lovely take by Paul Brown Bampoe in the midst of a lot of traffic saw Chiefs on the attack, he then ran down the touch line and put in a lovely pass to Tommy Wyatt. The touchline was checked and the various angles didn’t show anything conclusive and as the referee had said, try scored, it had to be clear to over rule the decision. Of course Saracens fans felt as aggrieved as Chiefs fans felt elated. Another conversion made and Chiefs were 2 points ahead.
There was no room for discussion for Exeters next try, after a mistake by Fergus Burke who let a great box kick by Townsend bounce, he totally missed it, but Franco Molina (I think, Premiership rugby has a different name at 20) took the ball and passed it to Dan Frost who was tap tackled, he got the ball away to Ethan Roots, who was not going to be stopped! Harvey Skinner added the extras. That gave a 9 point lead and the bonus point try.
Nick Tompkins came on as a Flanker remarkably! Saracens Harry Wilson was shown a Red Card on 71 minutes, the TMO bringing the incident to the referee’s attention. He was far too high and hit Rusi Tiuma’s head, I do agree with Sam Warburton, the decision should have been made sooner.
Skinner put in a good kick to the corner and Dan Frost was in possession of the ball as Chiefs went over the line at some speed. Skinner converted the try and Chiefs had a 16 point lead with 6 minutes remaining.
Saracens had the last word after play was delayed by a pitch invader, annoying of all involved! Franco Molina was shown a Yellow Card on 79 minutes for a 2nd offside offence by Chiefs. Eroni Mawi took a tap tackle to be brought down before Saracen went wide, Chiefs had been penalised again, Mawi was stopped again but not a 3rd time. The clock was in the red meaning with the conversion Saracens only closed the gap to 9, therefore going home with nothing but experience for many of their young players. A good win for Chiefs after a demoralising couple of weeks in Europe.
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