Last-minute try ends Saracens' 'double double' bid

First will play second in next week's final at Twickenham after regular season table-toppers Wasps edged out Leicester 21-20 in Saturday's second semi-final.

Wasps, however, could be without Kurtley Beale after the Wallaby playmaker limped off with a leg injury.

A week on from winning the European Champions Cup final against French club Clermont, Saracens appeared to have denied Exeter when replacement wing Mike Ellery's try put them 16-13 up with just four minutes left.

However, England goalkicker Owen Farrell missed the difficult conversion and that meant a try alone could still see Exeter to victory.

The southwest side won a penalty and Henry Slade's superb touch-finder -- which Saracens boss Mark McCall labelled "one of the great kicks of all time" set up a line-out just seven metres from the London club's line.

Exeter won the line-out and from the ensuing maul, replacement back-row Simmonds was driven over for a try.

Experienced referee Wayne Barnes awarded the score without needing to consult the television match official to spark wild celebrations among the home crowd.

"We had the game with two minutes left, but then came one of the great kicks of all time from Henry Slade," Saracens rugby director McCall said.

"He puts that kick anywhere else, and I would be sitting here talking about one of the great wins and fights from a team who were a bit tired.

"Well done to Exeter. We wish them all the best for next weekend," the former Ireland international added after his side failed to match Leicester's 2002 achievement in retaining both the English and European crowns.

'Heck of a shot'

Meanwhile delighted Exeter captain Gareth Steenson said: "We said for Henry to go for it with the kick. It had to be within a certain range to give us a chance, and fair play to him, it was a heck of a shot.

"We got the opportunity, then Henry knocked the kick and the rest is history."

Exeter, who lost to Saracens in last season's Premiership final, will be up against a Wasps side who just did enough to see off a spirited Leicester in Coventry.

Josh Bassett's late try proved decisive after good work from Kiwi star Jimmy Gopperth, the Premiership's player of the year, and South Africa's Willie le Roux sent him in at the corner.

For Leicester captain Tom Youngs defeat capped a desperately difficult few weeks in which it was announced that his wife, Tiffany, had terminal cancer.

Beale, before his injury, helped Wasps establish a 10-0 lead by scoring the game's first try following a slick exchange of passes with le Roux.

Wasps were 13-6 up when wing Peter Betham scored after a fine cut-out pass from Freddie Burns, whose conversion tied the scores at 13-13.

Another Gopperth penalty made it 16-13 before Leicester wing Telusa Veainu's try gave the Tigers the lead as they cased in on a couple of botched attacking plays by Wasps before Dai Young's men finally kept their composure long enough to allow Bassett to score.

"Nobody leaves early here," Young told BT Sport after guiding Wasps to their first Premiership final since they were last crowned champions in 2008.

"I thought the boys showed a lot of guts to come back and win. We threw the kitchen sink at them.

"We blew a few opportunities but we didn't give up and just kept going."