Well, that was some final, some game of rugby, which hardly allowed us to take a breath. The heartiest of congratulations to Exeter who have secured a first Champions Cup title in extremely nerve-jangling circumstances. They won’t care, but you have to wonder how it may have panned out if Machenaud had started instead of Iribaren for Racing. On top of that, the decision for the Hidalgo-Clyne turnover really could have gone either way - Exeter could have been penalised for not rolling away just as easily. Slade scored a try soon after escaping a yellow card for a high tackle on Imhoff, another decision that might have gone either way. But that is rugby, that is sport, and none of it really matters now - it was a sensational game of rugby, and both teams put on a wonderful show. Comiserations to Racing. Can Exeter seal a double in the Premiership final next week? You wouldn’t bet against them. Thanks for reading and see you next time!

Here is Paul Rees’ match report from Ashton Gate of a breathless Champions Cup final:

Exeter’s Joe Simmonds speaks: “Honestly, I can’t really believe it, but it’s been a long time coming ... it’s been a lot of hard work for everyone at the club. It hasn’t quite sunk in yet but I’m sure it will, in a couple of minutes or so ... We’ve got time to kind of refresh and come Monday we’ll focus on the Premiership final.”

Asked to explain what Rob Baxter brings to the club, he says: “It comes from the top, it comes from Rob, the way he is, the way he coaches, it feeds into the pitch. Everybody here wants to play for each other ... Rob’s been brilliant for this club.”

The entire Exeter squad now have beers in hand to celebrate, as Nowell promised they would. So far just Nowell, in terms of interviews in Channel 4’s coverage, but hopefully they will have more coming up soon.

The confusion over the clock at the end was so bizarre, it’s easy to forget that turnover by Tom Hidalgo-Clyne in the dying moments, when Racing 92 were almost literally over the Exeter try-line and the Chiefs were down to 14 men. What a moment. In truth, Racing will be gutted they didn’t come away with at least a penalty after such a massive amount of pressure in those dying minutes - and a penalty might have been enough.

Looking utterly deflated, the Racing 92 players take their medals. Exeter continue the celebrations as they await the trophy lift. In these Covid-19 affected times, the medals are laid out on a table for the players to pick up ... and the Champions Cup is sitting there, too ...

Celebration and devastation - scenes at the end from BT Sport’s Twitter feed as Exeter’s European Champions Cup title is confirmed:

Jack Nowell, who was instrumental in two Exeter tries and had a typically industrious game, speaks to Channel 4: “It’s pretty surreal, I just think it’s something we’ve wanted for so long ... we felt we have let ourselves down in this competition ... but when we played Toulouse at home [in the semi-final] we thought it was our time. To come away against a tough team like that and win, it’s absolutely surreal ... We’re missing you [the fans] as much as you’re missing us ... it’s a shame [the fans couldn’t attend] but we’re glad we won it, we’re glad everyone’s watching at home ... It’s mental, mental ... We’re going to have a lot of beers on the bus on the way home but we’ve got a big game next week.”

The head coach, Rob Baxter, is on the phone. He’s probably booking a table for dinner back in Exeter later.

79 min: Exeter still have the ball. They probe the defensive line a few times just over halfway. They get another penalty! Slade has the ball, seemingly ready to kick for touch, but Hogg grabs it. They are going for the posts from just over the halfway line. Referee Nigel Owens wants the clock taken back five seconds after Exeter wasted a bit of time. Exeter are going for the posts. The clock is at 79.32sec, at Owens’ request. Joe Simmonds is getting ready to take the kick.

78 min: Exeter have possession. Exeter have a one-point lead ... This is so tense. But the Chiefs are in the right part of the pitch from their point of view, in Racing’s half.

73 min: Racing 92 come attacking in waves. They are camped in the Chiefs’ 22. The Exeter defence holds firm for now ... but Racing 92 are well in control.

71 min: O’Flaherty effects a brilliant turnover with his team under pressure. Now the TMO is looking at a deliberate knock-on by Exeter and a yellow card is coming. It might even be a penalty try ... but it’s just a yellow card for Francis.

69 min: Nowell was off for a blood injury but is now back on the park. Kurtley Beale is on for Racing 92 and immediately looking dangerous as they capitalise on a knock-on by Exeter and storm into the Exeter 22. “Exeter look nervy, it’s not the Exeter I’m used to seeing,” says Chris Ashton on commentary.

68 min: Here is that huge tackle by Hill I was talking about ...

63 min: A THUNDEROUS hit is made by Hill on Russell with Racing moving dangerously through the phases in the vicinity of the Exeter try line.

“It’s swinging, isn’t it,” the coach Baxter says speaking to Channel 4. “We are doing OK ... we could do with a bit of field position and a bit of territory. We’ve had very little control of territory in this half.”

62 min: Here’s that second try from Zebo, earlier in the half -

60 min: Russell pops up a lovely little kick for the corner. Good field position for Racing, but Exeter throw the line-out long, and get it right ... You can’t imagine Exeter not scoring again in this match, but it’s a question of how many points Racing will be able to muster themselves. They are looking dangerous and Vakatawa goes charging through the middle, but he narrowly fails to collect a kick.

58 min: Four changes for Exeter with Yeandle, Moon, Francis and Kirsten all coming on. Skinner and Devoto come on too, with Gray and Whitten going off. Four points in it.

56 min: Racing have indeed changed their front row - Baubigny, Kolingar and Oz are on the field.

We have a phenomenally exciting final 25mins or so coming up!

55 min: Here’s the Slade try from BT Sport’s Twitter:

41 min: Imhoff, who is having a tremendous game, intercepts a pass out on the wing and charges forward. Slade runs back and goes a bit high as he tries to make the covering tackle. The TMO has a look but it’s just a penalty. Owens tells him: “You’re very lucky you hit the shoulder first, if it had been straight to the head, you’d have been in a lot more trouble.” Attacking line-out for Racing 92, though, after the penalty.

38 min: Russell tries a grubber kick for Racing but gets it all wrong. The ball breaks loose out to the Exeter right, and Nowell is able to kick ahead and sprint down the wing, and he gets into a foot race with Imhoff, who intervenes just in time in the corner and manages to avert a try. But now Exeter have a line out in the danger zone.

31 min: Russell sends an excellent high kick out to the right. There is massive hit on Camille Chat from Exeter, and another one or two excellent tackles from the Chiefs, but they are under pressure ...

30 min: “It’s quite simple lads. Now get it sorted, please.” Referee Nigel Owens tells both packs to get things cleaner at scrum time.

28 min: The No 9 Iribaren tries an outrageous kick high out to the right wing and it more or less comes off as Racing manage to maintain possession. But now it’s back in the hands of Exeter again. It’s a stereotypically French performance from Racing so far, even if their players happen to come from all over the globe ... there is the odd moment of brilliance but no continuity. Exeter are the team who have stamped their authority on things, so far, but if Racing can get the next score, they will have got off lightly. Baxter shakes his head about something up in the stands.

25 min: Exeter have a scrum in their own half, and win a penalty as they put yet more pressure on the Racing set-piece. It looks like Iribaren might be hooked off for Machenaud.

22 min: Exeter storm down to the other end of the pitch and a nice inside pass by Henry Slade nearly puts the scrum-half Jack Maunder in. But he loses his balance, and tries to get a pass away, but it’s mopped up by a recovering Racing defender. This is warming up! Now Racing have ball in hand again, and there are a couple of crunching tackles from Exeter defenders around their own 22.

14 min: It’s all Exeter. Nowell makes a dart down the right with the try line beckoning. There is a high-tackle penalty advantage. Joe Simmonds tries to step back inside near the posts, and it ends with a knock-on after a few more phases, and we go back for a TMO check for that high tackle which was made by ... you guessed it ... the Racing scrum-half Iribaren. Now there is another TMO check for a no-arms tackle by Bernard Le Roux.

11 min: The scrum-half Teddy Iribaren puts his team under pressure yet again, with a very odd pass inside after a good searching kick by Simmonds into Racing’s territory. The early signs aren’t good for the French team, it’s fair to say, but there is plenty of rugby to be played yet.

5 min: Having lost two line-outs early on, Exeter kick another penalty for the corner in trademark fashion, and nearly drive the ball over! Good field position and good pressure for Exeter now ...

4 min: Exeter win a penalty at the first scrum. They kick deep into the Racing 22, and Racing gamely run the ball back, with Virimi Vakatawa stopped in midfield by an excellent tackle by Sam Simmonds, the Exeter No 2, when one of Racing’s danger men nearly burst through the defensive line. In truth it’s been a bit of a scratchy start by both teams.

2 min: Exeter take a good line-out near halfway then come down the short side, but cough up a penalty for holding on, and Racing 92 kick for the corner ... but Iribaren the scrum-half misses touch! Ouch, that was a horror.

The teams are out on the pitch. There are a few pyrotechnics, and the Racing 92 players are all wearing pink bow-tie, which they remove before kick-off. Nigel Owens is our referee.

We have 10 minutes until kick-off. Despite the lack of fans in the stadium, there still looks to be a real buzz among the players. One of these teams will be European champions for the first time in a couple of hours.

Mike Prendergast, the Racing 92 attack coach, speaks about their preparations: “Obviously they weren’t ideal, we had to adapt and to deal with it ... fortunately we got on the pitch last week against Toulouse ... we went to Corsica, we had a good week’s training. There is a huge desire there - for seven or eight players, it’s their third final ... There is huge drive and huge excitement. Being in a hotel for a week, it allowed us to sharpen our minds ... we can’t wait to get out there.”

The former Wales and Racing 92 centre Roberts looks ahead to the breakdown battle: “Racing are going to have to pick their moments, when to compete in the contact area, and they have to be certain that it’s legal. If they get it wrong, it could be a long day for Racing.”

Exeter are pictured in a pre-match huddle while they finish off their training routines, with a few man-hugs being exchanged.

The Exeter head coach, Rob Baxter, speaks to Channel 4: “Yes, it’s the biggest game in our history ... we’ve waited a long time for days like today, so it’s going to be a big day. I just said to them [the players], they have done the hard work, they’ve made the sacrifices to get here, they’ve kept their destiny in their hands, now it’s up to them to finish the job off ... if we turn up with our ‘A’ game and get the hard work done ... if we are just grafting flat out and try and drive the momentum of the game our way ... I’ll be confident we’ll get something out of the game.”

He looks nervous, but wouldn’t you be? They say that if you’re not nervous, you’re not prepared.

Jamie Roberts speaks on Channel 4 on pundit duty: “It’s a little strange, no fans and the players will be desperate to play in front of the fans ... but they need no more motivation, they’ll create that buzz from within.”

Dylan Hartley, meanwhile, remembers his try in a losing final playing for Northampton: “The interesting thing is, I never got another chance ... for Racing this is their third chance, and I hope they use that experience to go on and win one. I hope Exeter don’t get scared off by the occasion that this is, I hope they don’t have to lose one before they can win one.”

Hartley’s rooting for both teams, then.

Robin Hazlehurst emails:

“Looking forward to this, but it’ll have to go some to be better than last night’s match, especially the first 16 seconds. I was watching on French TV and I’ve never heard any sports commentator sound as utterly deflated as Benjamin Kaiser did at that point. Can’t decide whether to go for French again today or Channel 4...”

Enjoy that match, Robin. That reminds me - read Michael Alywin’s report of Bristol’s stirring win against Toulon right here:

Photographic evidence that Racing 92’s players have successfully made it to Ashton Gate:

Exeter’s last outing was their Premiership semi-final success against Bath last Saturday. Racing 92, meanwhile, have not played competitively for 17 days and of course spent a week in Corsica in a bio-secure bubble. Will Exeter fancy their chances of catching their opponents a bit cold?

While some at Racing 92 have insisted the Covid-19 positives will not affect the outcome today, Finn Russell admitted their preparations have not exactly been ideal:

Here, Paul Rees compares trying to combat Exeter’s threat with trying to stop Jonah Lomu. You know exactly what’s coming, but dealing with it is another matter entirely:

Exeter have to be favourites today - they are at ‘home’, even if they’ve had to drive up to Bristol for the match, and the squad has been unhindered by the ill effects of Covid-19. But Racing 92 are not going to roll over, and their captain Henry Chavancy is making all the right noises:

“We really worked very hard so that this time the details are in our favour and that the result is in our favour.”

Read Gerard Meagher’s piece from yesterday:

Here’s Racing 92’s line-up for today in embedded-tweet form.

Kick-off is an hour away. Feeling nervous, Exeter fans? Email me or send me a tweet!

Is Rob Baxter the Brian Clough of English rugby union?

“When he went to sign the Leicester and England forward Thomas Waldrom at a motorway service station he could see the player eyeing a chocolate muffin on display by the counter. Not only did he encourage Waldrom to order it, he would turn a blind eye whenever the No 8 slipped away with Tomas Francis for a cream tea in Topsham the afternoon before a game.”

Read Robert Kitson on Exeter’s remarkable rise to the top: