Exeter Chiefs completed a momentous double when they beat Wasps 19-13 in a rain-lashed, arm-wrestle of a Premiership final in a near-empty Twickenham on Saturday, a week after winning the European Champions Cup.
In appalling conditions of relentless rain and swirling wind, where the only noise in the 82,000-capacity ground came from the hyper-vocal squad members of both teams, Exeter led 13-10 at halftime on the back of a Henry Slade try against Jacob Umaga’s similar individual score for Wasps.
A Jimmy Gopperth penalty made 13-13 going into a tense last 20 minutes. However, Exeter gradually took control, edged ahead with Joe Simmonds’ third penalty and — after surviving a late scare — settled it with the 23-year-old captain’s fourth in the final minute.
Exeter join Saracens, Wasps and Leicester as the fourth English team to complete the double.