Dafydd Jenkins left Twickenham with the right kind of frustration: sharp enough to hurt, but useful enough to carry Exeter Chiefs into the next stage of their rebuild.
Northampton Saints’ 26-17 win in the Gallagher PREM final has already been framed, rightly, around George Hendy’s decisive late double and Henry Pollock’s latest statement performance. For Exeter, though, the more durable story may be the tone of their response. Jenkins scored, went to the sin-bin, fronted the defeat, and then signed off with the message that will matter most to Rob Baxter’s group: “We’ll be back.”
Exeter’s pain still points forward
This was not a side beaten because the occasion swallowed them. Exeter led 17-14 in the second half, forced Northampton to solve problems rather than simply decorate the final, and gave themselves a proper shot at a title that would have arrived earlier than almost anyone expected when this squad began the season.
That context matters. Jenkins had already made this final a wider Welsh story, as ReadRugbyUnion noted in our build-up to his Exeter captaincy moment. The final itself only sharpened it. Wales need leaders who understand what the biggest club games demand, and Jenkins has now had the full lesson: the lift of a final try, the sting of a yellow card, and the cold edge of a closing quarter controlled by a champion side.
Baxter’s own post-final challenge was built around the same idea. Exeter have written a few strong chapters, but the point now is to keep writing until they win the final page. That is an important distinction. This is not a plucky-underdog tale if Exeter treat it properly; it is a benchmark.
Jenkins gives Wales something to work with
For Wales, Jenkins’ afternoon was messy in a way that might prove more useful than a polished losing performance. He was central to Exeter’s best spell, finished a crucial score, then found himself punished when the match turned into a moments contest. International locks are judged as much by those swings as by their highlights.
The timing is not incidental. With Wales heading into another demanding summer block, the national side need more players arriving with live, bruising, high-pressure evidence behind them. Jenkins has that now. So does Christ Tshiunza, while Immanuel Feyi-Waboso’s availability keeps the Exeter-Wales-England crossover alive in a different register.
ReadRugbyUnion’s earlier look at how Northampton’s balance posed Exeter a different problem proved close to the shape of the final. Exeter could match the scrap, but Saints eventually found the cleaner late attacking actions. That is the gap Exeter must close and the lesson Jenkins will carry.
Saints showed the standard
Northampton’s title was not built on one burst alone. Hendy supplied the finish, Pollock supplied the noise and disruption, and Fin Smith again showed why his control matters when Saints are under pressure rather than flowing freely. Their ability to look imperfect and still win is why this side now feels like the reference point in English club rugby.
That is also why Exeter should be careful not to over-romanticise being close. Their lineout and set-piece pressure points hurt them. Their discipline became expensive. Their best spell needed to become a winning spell. Finals are not decided by moral momentum, and Northampton have become particularly good at turning narrow openings into medals.
Still, Exeter’s rise from last season’s lower-table frustration to a Twickenham final is real. It sits alongside the bigger post-final picture ReadRugbyUnion covered in Hendy’s title-winning Northampton performance, because the final produced two truths at once: Saints are deserved champions, and Exeter are no longer just a team with promise.
Jenkins’ vow will not make the defeat easier tonight. It should make the next Exeter pre-season feel sharper. For club and country, that may be the value of Twickenham: not a trophy, but a young captain leaving with the exact scar tissue a serious leader needs.
