Moon relishing last four encounter

By Mark Stevens
11/5/17

Ben Moon says he and his Exeter Chiefs team-mates are just “one hard shift” away from returning to Twickenham and a place in the Aviva Premiership Final for the second year running.

The Chiefs confirmed a home semi-final against defending champions Saracens on Saturday week by recording an eighth successive try bonus point win away to Gloucester in the final round of the scheduled season last weekend.

Long-serving prop Moon played his part in that 34-20 victory, scoring his first-ever Premiership try during the second half of the game played at Kingsholm.

Moon – along with Ian Whitten, James Short and Will Chudley – claimed Exeter’s tries on the day, a result which ensured the Chiefs ended the season on 84 points, level with Wasps who topped the pile courtesy of a greater win ratio.

The focus now, however, is on the upcoming semi-final where a capacity crowd will pack into Sandy Park for what should be another titanic tussle between last year’s two finalists.

“We’re all looking forward to it,” said Moon. “Saracens are a quality side, packed full of great players, but we’re a great side ourselves and we’ve got home advantage, so it’s a big opportunity for us.

“Steeno said it the other day, the semi-final last year [against Wasps] was probably the biggest emotional game we’ve been through here at the club. It’ll be a sell-out again, the atmosphere will be fantastic and it will be another great occasion for everyone at the club.

“That said, we know we are only 80 minutes from going back to Twickenham. It’s only one hard shift, so we’ve got to give it everything to try and get back there again. We’ve been in this position before and come through, so there is no reason we can’t do it again this year.”

Certainly, the Chiefs will head into that fixture brimming with confidence following an unbeaten run in the league that now stretches back to late October.

“We don’t tend to look too far ahead of ourselves,” added the 27-year-old. “We’ve got two weeks to get ourselves fully prepared and we’ll look to just keep working as hard as we have over these last few weeks.

“The Gloucester game was a real good test for us, but we knew if we stuck to our guns we would be alright. We said if we could get to the 60-minute mark and be in contention and in the game, then we’d back ourselves to come through in that last quarter, which is what we did in the end.”

More of the same – if not more – will be needed against a Saracens outfit, who this weekend will be looking to make it back-to-back triumphs in the European Champions Cup. French rivals ASM Clermont Auvergne offer the opposition to them at Murrayfield.