The Albany Gazette - Exeter deny Saracens English Prem play-off place as McCall bows out

Saturday's defeat brought down the curtain on Mark McCall's 15 years as director of rugby at Saracens after the former Ireland centre announced in January he would be leaving at the end of this campaign.

Saracens won three Champions Cups and six Prem titles under McCall but they were denied the chance to round off his reign with yet another trophy as Exeter won convincingly to finish in third place.

"I feel OK. I've been fortunate enough to experience the highs and the lows," said McCall after Saracens ended the season in fifth position.

"I'm absolutely blessed to have worked with the people at the club for as long as I have done. I feel lucky."

Exeter will now be away to reigning champions Bath, who finished in second after edging out Leicester 24-22, in a June 13 semi-final.

Northampton will be at home to Leicester in a Midlands derby in the first semi-final on June 12, despite the table-topping Saints losing 38-31 at Harlequins.

The Prem final is at Twickenham on June 20.

Sale and Gloucester claimed the final two Champions Cup places on offer to Prem clubs by defeating Bristol and Newcastle respectively.

- Slade stars for Exeter -

Henry Slade ran in the crucial 47th-minute try that left Exeter in a commanding positon against Saracens, with the centre also landing three conversions and two penalties as well.

The 74-times capped Slade last played for England against Argentina in November and was overlooked for a Six Nations where Steve Borthwick's men lost four out of five matches.

But Exeter attack coach Dave Walder urged Borthwick to recall the 33-year-old for next month's Nations Championship fixtures against world champions South Africa, Fiji and Argentina.

"If I was picking an England team, I'd have Henry Slade in there," said Walder. "I see him every day and I know what he's capable of."

Exeter were arguably the club most-affected by Saracens' salary cap breaches for which they were fined £5.36 million ($7.15 million) and relegated to the second-tier Championship in 2019.

"Nobody around here lets you forget the history between the two clubs, two great and successful clubs," said Walder. "It was important we got our emotional level right and we didn't over-hype the game and the boys were brilliant at that."

South Africa prop Thomas du Toit was Bath's hero against Leicester at a rainswept Recreation Ground with a hat-trick of close-range tries.

"Exeter have shown what type of team they are, and we are up for a real challenge," he told TNT Sports, with Bath now just 80 minutes away from a third straight Prem final.

Leicester coach Geoff Parling added: "We will dust ourselves off, take some learnings, and put everything into the Saints game next Friday."

Back-row Tom Lawday scored the winning try in the closing seconds of his final game for Harlequins to deny a much-changed Northampton.

"To lose like that, it's hard to talk about because we've done it (to other teams) so many times this season," said Saints supremo Phil Dowson.

(P.Davis--TAG)