Baxter embraces winner-takes-all Saracens showdown as Exeter climb to fourth

Exeter Chiefs moved into fourth place in the Gallagher Premiership table with a 35-26 victory over Leicester Tigers at Welford Road on Sunday, setting up a winner-takes-all home clash against Saracens that will decide the final play-off berth of the season.

Head coach Rob Baxter said the outcome felt almost pre-ordained. “I think in a lot of ways it was destined to end like this,” he told reporters after the win. “Three or four weeks ago I said to a few people, I just cannot see any way we are going to get to the Saracens game and it’s not going to be a big game for both of us. And that’s how it’s ended.”

The victory ended Leicester’s unbeaten home run — their first defeat at Welford Road since March 2025 — and left Exeter three points ahead of fifth-placed Saracens heading into the final round of regular-season fixtures. For Baxter, the pressure of consecutive must-win matches is exactly the kind of environment he wants his side in if they are to recapture the form that brought the club sustained success in the previous decade.

“It’s probably great for rugby, and it’s good for us because it concentrates our minds,” he said. “If we get to a semi-final it’s going to be away. Do we want to be involved in big games and getting prepared for it? Or do we want dead rubbers? Having to come to Welford Road and having to get points, playing next week and having to win — I think that’s the best prep for us if we are going to have any chance in a semi-final or final.”

The stakes carry an added layer of history. Between 2016 and 2019, Saracens beat Exeter in three of four Premiership finals, a run that forged one of English rugby’s most intense rivalries. Saracens will also be without director of rugby Mark McCall next season, with the long-serving coach confirmed to be leaving the club at the end of the campaign.

Exeter forwards coach Ross McMillan echoed Baxter’s satisfaction at the manner of the win, pointing to the character required to beat a Leicester side that had been so formidable on home soil throughout the season.

A play-off place that seemed distant only weeks ago is now firmly in Exeter’s hands — though they will have to earn it one more time against familiar opponents.