14-man Saracens draw with Exeter

Editor

Saracens came from behind to draw 13-13 with Exeter Chiefs despite having prop Richard Barrington red carded early into his 100th appearance.

Barrington was sent off after 10 minutes in controversial fashion, his shoulder colliding with the head of Geoff Parling before Ian Tempest showed him a red card, with Brad Barritt escaping punishment despite a suspected swinging arm.

Exeter took advantage, Jack Nowell touched down superbly to send his side into a strong lead. Gareth Steenson added two kicks to send the visitors back to the dressing room with a 3-10 lead.

However, the hosts rallied and scored a late try through Titi Lamositele to set up Alex Lozowski with a late conversion chance to snatch a draw.

His kick was successful and this secured his side’'s first draw of the season to send his side back to the summit of the Premiership.

The match got off to a dramatic start with Barrington shown a red card after 10 minutes. The lock was sent off by Ian Tempest after Barritt’'s high tackle propelled Parling’'s head towards his shoulder.

The former England international left the field on a stretcher before Steenson slotted home the resulting penalty to send the Chiefs into an early 0-3 lead.

Exeter scored the first try of the match four minutes later, Nowell picking the ball out of the air from a cross-field kick before finishing superbly. Steenson added a fantastic conversion from the touchline to extend his side’s lead to 10 points.

In the 23rd minute, a dominant scrum from the hosts’ pack won a penalty in a kickable position. Lozowski found the target to register the hosts’ first points after a difficult start.

In the 38th minute Exeter were then disallowed a try. Don Armand’'s barnstorming run was curtailed just inches from the line by Chris Wyles and Michael Rhodes. The TMO determined that the latter knocked the ball out of the flanker’'s hands, denying the visitors a second try to leave the half-time score at 3-10.

In the 52nd minute Lozowski scored another penalty for the home side to cut the deficit. It stemmed from another rocky moment for the visitors’ scrum.

After much pressure, Exeter bagged their first score of the second half in the 69th minute, Gareth Steenson slotting a penalty to extend his side’'s lead to seven valuable points.

Saracens would not lie down though and with 73 minutes played Lamositele scored a dramatic late try. Lozowski added the extras from a difficult angle to bring parity to the scoreboard.

Steenson missed a late drop goal attempt as neither side could clinch the win. This was how it finished, with the sides sharing the spoils at 13-13.

The scorers:

For Saracens:
Try: Lamositele
Con: Lozowski
Pens: Lozowski 2
Red Card: Barrington

For Exeter Chiefs:
Try: Nowell
Con: Steenson
Pens: Steenson 2

Saracens: 15 Alex Goode, 14 Sean Maitland, 13 Marcelo Bosch, 12 Brad Barritt (c), 11 Chris Wyles, 10 Alex Lozowski, 9 Richard Wigglesworth, 8 Jackson Wray, 7 Kelly Brown, 6 Michael Rhodes, 5 Jim Hamilton, 4 Maro Itoje, 3 Juan Figallo, 2 Schalk Brits, 1 Richard Barrington
Replacements: 16 Jamie George, 17 Titi Lamositele, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Will Skelton, 20 Schalk Burger, 21 Ben Spencer, 22 Duncan Taylor, 23 Nick Tompkins

Exeter Chiefs: 15 Phil Dollman, 14 Jack Nowell, 13 Sam Hill, 12 Henry Slade, 11 James Short, 10 Gareth Steenson (c), 9 Will Chudley, 8 Thomas Waldrom, 7 Tom Johnson, 6 Don Armand, 5 Geoff Parling, 4 Ollie Atkins, 3 Greg Holmes, 2 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 1 Carl Rimmer
Replacements: 16 Jack Yeandle, 17 Ben Moon, 18 Harry Williams, 19 Mitch Lees, 20 Dave Dennis, 21 Jack Maunder, 22 Ian Whitten, 23 Michele Campagnaro

Referee: Ian Tempest
Assistant Referees: Nigel Carrick, Paul Burton
TMO: Sean Davey