It was fitting that the final would be a thrilling match after all the 6 Nations games this weekend. It went right down to the final whistle, here is my review.
How did the prediction go?
First here is a link to my prediction.
1 out of 1, fantastic a clean sweep! Well it was a 50:50 call and I do wish I’d been wrong.
Saracens 23 v 20 Exeter
The first half was a low scoring affair, Saracens picked up their only points from a penalty at scrum time. Exeter will fell that they should have done better when they were held up over the line after several phases. It did lead to a penalty to even things up though. A second penalty when a Saracens players was carded for not rolling away gave the Chiefs a 3 point lead. They weren’t able to further capitalise on the extra man so it was 3-6 at half time.
Whilst still down to 14 men Saracens struck when an intercepted pass was run in for a try. Strettle then picked up this second when he collected a kick to give Saracens a 13-6 lead with only 10 minutes gone in the second half. Another try gave Saracens a commanding 20-6 lead with just over quarter of an hour to go. Helped by a second Saracens yellow card Exeter managed a big comeback, with two tries from fullback Bodilly in the final ten minutes. Saracens though managed to get field position and the penalty to win the game with the last kick of the game.
Key Stat: Kicks from hand Saracens 29 Exeter 23
Exeter led in nearly all the stats except the one that mattered and they do say the most correlated stat to the score is how many times you kick the ball.
It will be a shame if this is the last ever LV=Cup game and I hope that it can reclaim it’s place in the calendar after the world cup.
I’m with you hoping it returns. The final was a barnstormer of a game and that last second penalty had all the drama of the tryfest points chases in the 6 nations.
I also like it being a great way to rest players mid season and bring on new talent.
Yes there’s lots of talk about player welfare but all the initiatives are against it