Exeter into final after Tom O’Flaherty’s solo try lights up win over Northampton

Northampton ended years of decay with a reinvigorating rebranding, but power remains the most precious commodity in the physical world of the Premiership. The Saints gave their hosts a jolt and should have led at half-time, but they were ruthlessly ground down and for the second season in a row the final will be contested by Saracens and Exeter after both again recorded large victories in the play-offs.

Exeter beat Newcastle by 31 points last season, a figure Northampton reduced by one, while Saracens’ 25-point margin over Gloucester was one more than they had achieved against Wasps 12 months before. Well might Northampton’s director of rugby, Chris Boyd, at the end of his first season in the Premiership, reflect on the gap that has grown between the top two and the rest, one that appears to be widening rather than narrowing.

Northampton had lost 40-21 here a week ago in the final round of the Premiership season. They improved parts of their game that had failed then, such as the scrum, but all Boyd could do was micromanage against more settled and consistent opponents who rippled with confidence. It was when the Saints had got on the front foot, either side of half-time, and threatened to take the lead that Exeter reasserted control and, for the second time in seven days, kept their opponents pointless after the break, retaining possession and wearing them out.

Related: Nick Tompkins’ hat-trick leads Saracens past Gloucester and into final

Northampton spent the first 20 minutes defending wave after wave of attacks. Three times Exeter took play through 20 phases or more and they went 14-0 ahead with tries by the prop Harry Williams, two phases after a scrum, and Joe Simmonds, who took advantage of a defence that was fanning out side by cutting inside and stepping away from Piers Francis.

Exeter, as has been their custom all season, sent kickable penalties into touch in the quest for seven points. Their season’s tally of 10 penalties is by some way the lowest in the Premiership – Northampton are the club immediately above them on 32 - and even when their lead was under threat either side of the interval, and their lineout had lacked its usual precision, they never sought sanctuary from the tee but stuck to what they trusted and knew worked.

It took Northampton 23 minutes to launch their first attack but two tries in as many minutes turned the match into a contest. The first was a penalty try after James Fish was ruled to have lost the ball over the line after the Exeter wing Tom O’Flaherty had entered a maul from the side and contributed to the mistake. He had just sat down in the sin-bin when the Saints launched the move of the match, Tom Collins claiming a kick and initiating a move of interpassing and off-loading that finished with Rory Hutchinson picking a ball off his ankles before flicking a reverse pass to Ahsee Tuala; the full-back stepped inside to wrong-foot Nic White.

Northampton would have led at the break had Cobus Reinach, their player of the season, not dropped the ball after Hutchinson’s break. The scrum-half had scored 11 league tries this season but fluffed what would have been one of the most straightforward, taking his eye off the ball as he gazed at the unguarded line 10 metres in front of him.

Biggar was wide with a drop goal and one minute after the break Reinach had another sight of the line after Taqele Naiyaravoro’s run along the right wing had scattered defenders. Henry Slade’s tackle denied him and when Northampton kicked the ball directly into touch Exeter reasserted their grip.

Joe Simmonds escapes from Cobus Reinach to score the second Chiefs try.Photograph: Stu Forster/Getty Images

Dave Dennis finished a series of drives after another penalty was kicked to touch and O’Flaherty scored the individual try of the afternoon after receiving the ball on halfway, dancing into space and beating Biggar and Francis for pace on an arcing run. The 24-year-old was a surprise selection ahead of Olly Woodburn and is a typical Exeter signing, almost unknown when he arrived from Ospreys last season having spent a year with Montpellier.

Lithe and wiry, he was the physical opposite of Alex Cuthbert on the other wing but no player carried the ball more than his 93 metres. Exeter’s final two tries were from shorter range through their replacements Sam Simmonds and Sam Hill, reward for the power game Northampton were unable to withstand. But Saracens will be markedly different.

“Teams like Northampton, Gloucester and Bristol, who play with optimism, need to find a way of getting closer to Exeter and Saracens,” said Boyd. There is little that is random about rugby at the top now. Continuity counts, which is why the top two have faced each other in three of the last four finals.