Saracens v Exeter Chiefs: LV= Cup final preview
Last Updated: 21/03/15 11:55am
Richard Barrington has been promoted to Saracens’ starting line-up for Sunday’s LV= Cup final with defending champions Exeter Chiefs at Franklin's Gardens.
With Rhys Gill on international duty with Wales, Barrington comes in at loosehead and is the solitary change to the team that defeated Northampton Saints last weekend.
The highly-rated Maro Itoje will captain Sarries from the second row while Ben Spencer, who kicked 11 points against Saints, continues to partner Nils Mordt at half-back.
Exeter have kept faith with the side that recorded a superb 30-22 semi-final victory over Leicester Tigers at Welford Road.
Veteran fly-half Ceri Sweeney skippers the Chiefs, with Byron McGuigan replacing Tom Hendrickson on the bench.
Saracens were 35-18 victors over the Chiefs when they met in the LV= Cup just six weeks ago, but Exeter skills coach Ricky Pellow says they have learnt from that defeat.
“When they last beat us they were better on the day, but it gives us a really clear picture going into Sunday how we can beat them and how to retain this cup,” said Pellow.
“We went in with a game-plan which we executed for 60 minutes and we were right in there. They are a good side and they build everything around pressure and that saw us go off script for about 10 minutes and they built up the points.
“That was not what we wanted at the time but what it has done is given us a clear idea of how to beat them and what it takes.”
Saracens: 15 Ben Ransom, 14 Mike Ellery, 13 Marcelo Bosch, 12 Tim Streather, 11 David Strettle, 10 Nils Mordt, 9 Ben Spencer; 1 Richard Barrington, 2 Jared Saunders, 3 Juan Figallo, 4 Maro Itoje (c), 5 Hayden Smith; 6 Nick de Jager, 7 Matt Hankin, 8 Ernst Joubert.
Replacements: 16 Scott Spurling, 17 Titi Lamositele, 18 Biyi Alo, 19 George Kruis, 20 Kelly Brown, 21 Tom Whiteley, 22 Alex Goode, 23 Catalin Fercu.
Exeter Chiefs: 15 Max Bodilly, 14 Fetu’u Vainikolo, 13 Adam Hughes, 12 Sireli Naqelevuki, 11 Tom James, 10 Ceri Sweeney (c), 9 Haydn Thomas; 1 Brett Sturgess, 2 Elvis Taione, 3 Moray Low, 4 Mitch Lees, 5 Jerry Sexton, 6 Ben White, 7 Sam Simmonds, 8 Kai Horstmann.
Replacements: 16 Greg Bateman, 17 Carl Rimmer, 18 Alex Brown, 19 Ed Holmes, 20 Joel Conlon, 21 Dave Lewis, 22 Gareth Steenson, 23 Byron McGuigan.
Watch Saracens v Exeter Chiefs live on Sky Sports 4 on Sunday from 2.30pm