Baxter dismisses points buffer talk as Exeter face must-win Saracens clash

Rob Baxter has told Exeter Chiefs to ignore the permutations surrounding Saturday’s Gallagher Premiership top-four showdown with Saracens at Sandy Park on 6 June, insisting that only a win will guarantee his side a semi-final place.

Exeter head into the fixture fourth in the table with 60 points — three clear of Saracens — but the two clubs are level on ten wins apiece, meaning the gap is far more precarious than the standings suggest. A Saracens victory by any margin that leaves the teams level on points would send the visitors through on the wins tiebreaker.

“It looks like a buffer, but the reality is it’s not at all, is it?” Baxter said. “Even if we lost a close game four points to one, Saracens go ahead of us on wins. Because we’re level on wins now. So, 100 per cent, we have to make sure we don’t feel like we’ve got a buffer, because in reality, we haven’t.”

Baxter acknowledged that a draw would technically be enough for Exeter to advance, but he was dismissive of treating that as a viable target. “You can say draw, and that’s the only thing we’ve given ourselves — the thing that a draw takes us through. But that’s it. So, 100 per cent, all we’re going to talk about this week is the need to win because that’s the only thing that really creates anything. Nothing else really works.”

The Chiefs have not reached the Premiership semi-finals since 2021, and Baxter is determined to end that wait by keeping his squad’s preparation straightforward. “If we’re playing to win, I suppose you’ve got that slight benefit that the draw does it. But you still don’t play to draw, do you? If we played to draw, we’ll get it well beaten. We play to win, we give ourselves a chance, and that’s very much how we’re going to talk this week.”

The winner of Saturday’s contest will secure a top-four berth and progress to the knockout rounds, while the loser faces the prospect of an early summer exit.