Underdogs Exeter aim to bite Saracens in Premiership final

By Neil Robinson (Reuters) - Exeter Chiefs know they are underdogs against Saracens in Saturday's Aviva Premiership rugby union final but that is no bad tag in an English sporting season where anything seems possible. With Leicester City still pinching themselves at making it to English football's summit after setting off as 5,000-1 outsiders, Rob Baxter's Exeter side don't have to look far for reasons to believe they can win their first showpiece final six years after joining English rugby's top tier. "As long as we're there, we've got a shot," said Henry Slade, the Exeter and England centre, after their 34-23 semi-final win over Wasps. "I know [Saracens] have done the double on us this year, but we did the double on them last year. We definitely know we can beat them." To do so, Exeter must bring their A-game because on paper Saracens, who finished top of the table, one place and six points above them, are currently European rugby's major force. Mark McCall's side are seeking back-to-back titles and a 2016 trophy double after winning the European Champions Cup, against Racing 92 earlier this month. A win on Saturday would also further their claim to be the most potent English club outfit since Bath swept all before them in the late 1980s. The Londoners drip international talent, with marquee players like Billy Vunipola, Maro Itoje and George Kruis proving central to England's 2016 Six Nations-winning team. Flyhalf Owen Farrell is equally influential, although he will require a fitness test for a side strain. Ready to step up and replace him is Charlie Hodgson, another England international, who would marshall a back line that includes Chris Ashton, overlooked for England's summer tour to Australia but still a deadly finisher at club level. Such names will not trouble Exeter as they bid to become the first side outside the East Midlands or South East to take the English game's top honour since Sale in 2006. On Wednesday they were boosted by the news that influential scrumhalf Will Chudley has been cleared to play after being cited for a kick during Exeter's semi-final win over Wasps. But even with him, victory remains a tall order, almost certainly requiring Gareth Steenson to have one of his dead-eyed days with the boot, Jack Nowell to conjure a trademark chance out of nowhere and their rolling mauls to trample Saracens underfoot. If all that happens, the noise emanating from under the Indian headdresses of the tens of thousands of Chiefs supporters will be deafening as Twickenham feels the force of the biggest rugby exodus from the West Country since Cornwall reached the County Championship final in 1991. (Reporting by Neil Robinson)