Exeter Chiefs suffer their worst ever start to a Premiership campaign with Saracens defeat

Exeter Chiefs were beaten 29-14 by Saracens at the StoneX Stadium on Sunday in Round Three of the 2024/25 Gallagher Premiership

Exeter Chiefs’ worst-ever start to a Premiership campaign was confirmed on Sunday when Saracens inflicted a 29-14 defeat on the Devon club at the StoneX Stadium.

Chiefs have twice lost their first two games of the season, in 2016/17 when they went on to win the title and in 2021/22, but until today they had never lost the first three, leaving them languishing in ninth place in the table. To a man, Exeter were outplayed by Saracens who barely got out of third gear to score five tries, two by player of the match Ben Earl with further scores from Jamie George, Tobias Elliott and Fergus Burke. Chiefs’ full-back Josh Hodge bagged of brace of tries to make the scoreline look respectable but the result was never in doubt after Saracens took the lead.

READ MORE: Saracens 29-14 Exeter Chiefs LIVE: Reaction and highlights from the StoneX Stadium

Both teams seemed to be feeling the other out in the opening stages and the crowd was woken up in the 18th minute when Saracens broke the deadlock through England captain Jamie George, who had the honour of scoring off the back of a driving maul, with Alex Lozowski’s conversion striking an upright.

Exeter almost hit back within three minutes as fly-half Will Haydon-Wood broke through the middle only to be tackled about a metre short of the line by Burke, with Earl coming up with a crucial jackal penalty.

Instead, Saracens extended their lead to 12-0 when rising wing star Elliott made it three tries in three games this season by breaking a tackle from Ben Hammersley just inside his own half and taking off, beating Hodge as well on his way to the line for a fine 60m solo effort. Lozowski converted.

Another pushover try for the hosts then followed in the 32nd minute, with Earl this time the man getting the ball down off the back of the maul.

The visitors looked to have a route back into the game when Hodge’s charged down kick fell kindly for Olly Woodburn, who passed the ball inside for Hodge himself to go clear under the posts thanks to his electric pace.

But Sarries almost immediately hit back with their bonus-point try when Earl found Elliott on the right and the younger winger timed his pass to allow Fergus Burke to score his first try for the club.

This gave the hosts a 24-7 half-time lead and Exeter’s afternoon got even tougher when Hammersley was sin-binned for making head-on-head contact with Andy Onyeama-Christie in the first minute of the second half.

Saracens quickly made the most of their man advantage as Elliott continued his impressive showing by getting a lovely off-load away for Earl to saunter in for his second try.

No further scores came while Hammersley was off the field and it was the Chiefs who scored next in the 62nd minute when quick hands from Woodburn and Hammersley allowed Hodge to bag his own double.

Exeter were far more competitive in the second half but unable to register any more points. They will now quickly turn their attention to Bristol Bears who come to Sandy Park on Saturday.

Saracens: 15 Elliot Daly, 14 Tobias Elliott, 13 Alex Lozowski, 12 Nick Tompkins, 11 Rotimi Segun, 10 Fergus Burke, 9 Ivan van Zyl (C), 1 Rhys Carre, 2 Jamie George, 3 Marco Riccioni, 4 Nick Isiekwe, 5 Hugh Tizard, 6 Theo McFarland, 7 Ben Earl, 8 Tom Willis.

Replacements: 16 Theo Dan, 17 Eroni Mawi, 18 Ollie Hoskins, 19 Andy Onyeama-Christie, 20 Juan Martin Gonzalez, 21 Toby Knight, 22 Charlie Bracken, 23 Alex Goode

Exeter Chiefs: 15 Josh Hodge, 14 Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, 13 Olly Woodburn, 12 Joe Hawkins, 11 Ben Hammersley, 10 Will Haydon-Wood, 9 Sam Maunder, 1 Will Goodrick-Clarke, 2 Jack Yeandle (C), 3 Marcus Street, 4 Jack Dunne, 5 Christ Tshiunza, 6 Ethan Roots, 7 Richard Capstick, 8 Greg Fisilau.

Replacements: 16 Jack Innard, 17 Kwenzo Blose, 18 Josh Iosefa-Scott, 19 Rusi Tuima, 20 Martin Moloney, 21 Tom Cairns, 22 Harvey Skinner, 23 Will Rigg

Referee: Karl Dickson

Assistant Referees: Joe James & Jonathan Healy

TMO: David Rose