Saracens should have added another after the restart, initially when Bridger swung her boot at a bouncing ball upfield and found nothing but air, and then again when Cleall’s advance, following a cheeky chip and chase in Exeter’s 22, was not helped by her backline who made the ball look like a bar of soap when it was flung out wide.
First Sophie Bridger scored; a scrum on half-way became a penalty which became a driving maul from a lineout which became five points several phases later.
Exeter’s job became all the more difficult when Claudia MacDonald was shown a yellow card for illegally slowing down the ball close to her own line.
They were incisive off first-phase strike play, and deserve credit for the intricate patterns they put together, but too often they spilled the ball in contact or found themselves in cul-de-sacs courtesy of a disciplined defensive effort from Sarries.
Within the space of 10 minutes Exeter were turned over twice at the breakdown inside Saracens’ 22.
