Bath stunned as Exeter head for final after last-ditch drama caps comeback

• Semi-final: Bath 26-27 Exeter

• Chiefs will meet Northampton next Saturday

For the first time since the greatest game in Premiership history, the away team have won a playoff. This was not a comeback to match that of Harlequins at Bristol in 2021, but Exeter looked every bit as dead and buried at half-time. And then a new team took to the field for the second half.

And so we will have a new champion. Bath had so dominated the first half, their lead was the least they might have expected. But in the second half, they looked utterly bewildered, like a golfer who just cannot understand why he can no longer hit the ball straight. Where they had once smashed through collisions, they were now staggering off rampant Exeter runners. Same sport, apparently – they just couldn’t play it any more.