Saracens were indebted to the composure of replacement Alex Goode, who kicked a penalty with the clock in the red to snatch a 22-20 Premiership victory over Exeter Chiefs and maintain their winning run.
The triumph was their first without a try bonus-point, but it was arguably the Londoners’ best result of the campaign so far.
Against an in-form Chiefs side, who look much better than the one which finished 2021/22 in seventh position, Sarries just did enough to edge their opponents.
At 19-10 ahead with just 10 minutes remaining, thanks to Theo McFarland’s try and two penalties apiece from Elliot Daly and Owen Farrell, they were very much in the ascendency, but Exeter showed their battling qualities.
Jacques Vermeulen touched down and Henry Slade kicked a second three-pointer – to go with an earlier penalty try – to move the West Country outfit ahead late on.
However, there was still time for the visitors to mount one last attack and, after the Chiefs infringed, Goode was on target from 40 metres out.
Click here for teams and scorers
It was an assured display from the visitors, despite occasional lapses in discipline, underlining their title credentials in pursuit of Premiership silverware they last captured three years ago.
Saracens were their own worst enemy in the opening stages, seeing a penalty reversed for foul play, then losing Farrell to a sixth-minute yellow card.
The Saracens skipper illegally impeded Chiefs wing Jack Nowell, and referee Tom Foley, whose patience was already running thin, sent Farrell packing.
Exeter could not make their temporary one-man advantage count, though, then Chiefs’ Scotland international full-back Stuart Hogg departed for a head injury assessment, with Joe Simmonds replacing him.
Slade kicked Exeter ahead through a 48-metre penalty following a scoreless opening quarter, but Saracens responded in clinical fashion.
Daly and wing Max Malins combined impressively to ask questions of Exeter’s defence, and before the Chiefs could regroup, McFarland surged through a gap to score from his team’s first attack, with Farrell converting.
Hogg then rejoined the action and he proved comfortably Exeter’s most dangerous attacker as defences dominated.
And Exeter regained the lead just before half-time after referee Foley handed out another yellow card, this time to Mako Vunipola.
It then got worse for the visitors as Vunipola was not only sin-binned for pulling down an ominous driving maul, his actions were also deemed worthy of conceding a penalty try.
But Exeter’s narrow advantage proved short-lived, with Daly kicking a 40-metre penalty into the wind to make it 10-10 at half-time.
Cowan-Dickie did not reappear for the second period, being replaced by Jack Yeandle, and Saracens went back in front through a Farrell penalty after Chiefs fly-half Harvey Skinner was yellow-carded for a technical infringement.
There was no let-up in the intensity and both coaches began making changes ahead of the final quarter, although Hogg’s 54th-minute exit saw him shake his head repeatedly in disapproval as he left the pitch.
Farrell extended Saracens’ advantage with a 30-metre penalty, but he exited the action on 61 minutes after taking an accidental knee to the head, with Goode replacing him.
Click Here: i soccer kit
Farrell’s penalty double had given Saracens a degree of breathing space, then Daly added a penalty from five metres inside his own half, only for Exeter to respond when Vermeulen touched down following Skinner’s half-break.
Goode, though, had the final say after Slade’s three-pointer as Saracens claimed a first Premiership away win against Exeter since 2016.
Bath finally win
Johann van Graan secured his first win in charge of Bath as the Premiership’s bottom club claimed a 27-14 victory over Northampton.
They led throughout, scoring tries through Miles Reid, Tom Dunn and Cameron Redpath, with 21-year-old fly-half George Worboys scoring 12 points on his debut.
Northampton failed to make the most of possession and did not register a point until the second half, scoring tries through Tom Collins and Sam Graham.