Kick Off: 1500, 26/05/2018
Stadium: Twickenham
TV: BT Sport
We’re finishing off this season’s Aviva Premiership predictions by previewing Saturday’s grand final at Twickenham, with Saracens and Exeter meeting in the decider for a third straight year.
Sarries prevailed 28-20 in 2016, while the Chiefs shaded it 23-20 after extra-time 12 months ago.
Both teams were emphatic victors in the semi-finals, but we just thought Saracens were the more impressive in attack and they get the nod at 18/25 in our Aviva Premiership betting tips.
A Look At Saracens’ Betting Odds
Saracens haven’t been as consistent throughout the campaign as in recent times, losing twice to Exeter during the regular season and being beaten by Leinster in Europe.
However, they have finished strongly, building up plenty of momentum ahead of the play-offs by scoring 217 points in wins over Northampton, Bath, London Irish and Gloucester.
Mark McCall’s side were then awesome when overpowering a talented Wasps team 57-33 at Allianz Park in the semis, after an opening 20 minutes which the director of rugby described as the best of his reign.
Owen Farrell’s flawless goal-kicking helped Sarries capitalise on a dominant physical display up front and the feeling is that they will also have too much athleticism for Exeter.
Looking at the Aviva Premiership odds for the final, we’re backing the favourites to oblige by more than two points at 91/100.
A Look At Exeter Chiefs’ Betting Odds
Of course, we won’t be underestimating the Chiefs, after they finished eight points clear at the top of the regular season table, securing one more win than Saracens with 17.
Exeter never looked back after building a 16-point interval advantage against Newcastle last weekend, going on to prevail 36-5 at Sandy Park.
“We knew we would have to work very hard against a team that is very resilient in defence and has a lot of collective belief,” said head coach Rob Baxter.
“The way the game went, those points took some scoring. We had to have a lot of possession into the wind, work extremely hard and build our performance.”
However, the Falcons failed to turn up offensively and we just fear the lack of intensity in that game could leave Exeter under-cooked for what should be a ferocious contest at Twickenham.
Additional stats
Semi-final results:
SARACENS 57-33 Wasps
EXETER 36-5 Newcastle
Head-to-head: Exeter 24-12 Saracens, Saracens 18-20 Exeter
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