The English Premiership’s back-to-back semi-finals provided plenty of entertainment on Saturday afternoon and an array of Guinness Six Nations stars came to the fore.
Scotland captain Stuart Hogg was among the try scorers for Exeter Chiefs, who powered past Bath to book their place in the Premiership final for the fifth consecutive season.
Hogg, who is set to lead his country in their upcoming Guinness Six Nations and Autumn Nations Cup fixtures, scored the decisive third try for the Devonians early in the second period as they began to pull away following a tight first half.
Jonny Hill and England hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie went over for Chiefs in the opening 40 minutes but Bath battled hard and two penalties from Wales fly-half Rhys Priestland kept them in touch at the interval, which arrived with the hosts 14-6 up.
But Hogg’s try stretched the advantage and Hill’s second put the outcome beyond doubt, with England centre Ollie Devoto applying gloss to the scoreline with a late try against his former club as Chiefs ran out 35-6 winners.
Fly-half Joe Simmonds put in another impressive display, converting all five tries and orchestrating play effectively, and he will hope his performances will have caught the eye of Eddie Jones ahead of the autumn internationals.
Jones was in position at the Ricoh Arena for the day’s first semi-final and England hopeful Jack Willis chose a good time to put in a blockbuster display as his Wasps side swept aside Bristol Bears 47-24.
The in-form flanker was a turnover machine and scored Wasps’ second try to help the hosts establish an 18-point half-time lead, with Malakai Fekitoa also crossing.
Dan Robson, Zach Kibirige and Italy full-back Matteo Minozzi went over in the second half as the home side built up an unassailable advantage.
Bristol had the final word with two late scores, taking their tally to four overall, but they came too late to trouble Wasps, who will face Exeter in the final at Twickenham on October 24.
62-cap England lock Joe Launchbury captained Wasps in their semi-final victory, while the Bristol side included England flanker Ben Earl as well as fly-half Callum Sheedy, who received his first call-up to the senior Wales squad this week.
