Exeter have lost the PREM rugby final at the Allianz Stadium after Northampton Saints beat the Chiefs

Five years on from Exeter’s last Twickenham appearance and after four straight bottom-half finishes, the Chiefs arrived at the PREM final full of confidence, having edged Bath by a single point at the Rec last week.

It was a hot and humid Saturday afternoon in the capital, the atmosphere inside Allianz Stadium was electric, with more than 80,000 voices rising together for God Save the King.

A disastrous start for the Exeter Chiefs against Northampton, who scored from their first attack of the game.  Exeter’s Olly Woodburn and Immanuel Feyi-Waboso ran into each other- fumbled the ball into the path of Northampton’s Tommy Freeman, who scored one of the easiest tries of his career.

The Chiefs managed to respond within minutes, a nice pass out to Campbell Ridl who touched down in the far corner. Although Henry Slade missed the conversion, momentum was certainly swinging in favour of Exeter.

Both sides were throwing everything at the match- Exeter should have capitalised on another try but a strong Northampton defence thwarted another try.

Then it was Exeter’s turn to stop an almost certain try by Saints in what was turning out to be a very entertaining game of rugby at Twickenham. But to the frustration of Exeter Chiefs, Northampton doubled their advantage courtesy of Fin Smith who dived over.

In the last few moments of the first half, Exeter capitalised on a Northampton mistake. Chiefs prop Josh Iosefa Scott forced his way through the Saints defence to give Exeter their second try of the match.

Exeter’s Henry Slade missed his second conversion and the score at the break was Northampton 14, Exeter 10.

The second half started with Saints on the front foot, but Exeter’s defence was phenomenal, preventing Northampton from touching down on numerous occasions. Although Northampton’s Rory Huchinson dived over in the corner, a forward pass in the build-up meant TMO disallowed the try.

A Northampton yellow card due to a high challenge gave Exeter the advantage of an extra man- and Chiefs captain Daffyd Jenkins crashes over, giving Exeter the lead for the first time in the final.

But just minutes later, Jenkins received a yellow card because of a high challenge, and it was 10 against 10 for some time.

Northampton had an additional man for five minutes and it completely changed the game. The Saints scored twice in three minutes, increasing the advantage to nine points with 10 minutes to go.

And despite Exeter throwing everything at Northampton in the final minutes, Saints’ robust defence held on to win the 2026 PREM Final.

The full time score was Northampton Saints 26, Exeter Chiefs 17.

The attendance at the Allianz Stadium was: 81,126.