It was fitting that at the end of a Premiership campaign that produced more than 800 tries, the team with the most potent attack overcame the club with the meanest defence.

But only just as Exeter Chiefs, who a year ago finished bottom but one, frustrated Northampton Saints by thwarting their quest for width and forcing them back inside time and again into the arms of tacklers.
It was only when Dafydd Jenkins was sent to the sin-bin with 24 minutes to go for a high challenge on George Furbank, the Saints’ captain making his final appearance for the club ahead of his move to a different part...