Exeter v Northampton live stream: How to watch from anywhere
The last of this weekend’s Champions Cup quarter-finals brings a first European meeting between two teams undergoing wildly different fortunes (5.30pm).
Exeter top the Premiership and have been winning games even with a second string. Saints have lost six of their last seven games and are coming off the back of a defeat by Leicester that DoR Chris Boyd views as “probably the worst” performance in his two years at the club.
The Chiefs, albeit slightly fortuitously, beat Northampton away at the start of this month with a side bearing little relation to today’s star-studded line-up. Few people give Saints a prayer but Exeter boss Rob Baxter is rightly on his guard.
“All week we’ve talked about how we have to prepare to face the very best Northampton side,” he said, “because there is no reason, especially when you look at their squad, that they can’t make something happen on the day. That means we have to be the best Exeter Chiefs team that we can be. We’re in decent form but it’s still a one-off game.”
Fit-again Tom O’Flaherty returns and so has a chance to build on recent success against the East Midlanders. The wing scored a super solo effort against them in last year’s 30-point Premiership semi-final thrashing and got the winner – a close-range snipe from a ruck – in this month’s league meeting at Franklin’s Gardens.
Starting role: Chiefs wing Tom O’Flaherty puts his foot on the gas at Franklin’s Gardens (Getty Images)
Irishman Ian Whitten makes his 50th Champions Cup appearance and Scottish scrum-half Sam Hidalgo-Clyne is one of five internationals on the bench.
Related: Sam Hidalgo-Clyne proving a natural Chief
Baxter said Saints had played “mind games” in the build-up as attention focused on stretched front-row resources. With Danny Hobbs-Awoyemi and Nick Auterac both suffering injuries at Bristol, Saints were left with one fit loosehead in teenager Emmanuel Iyogun – raising the spectre of uncontested scrums.
Chiefs were more than happy to agree to a rule change that allowed Saints to sign Alex Seville on loan from Gloucester after the EPCR registration deadline. In the Premiership at least, no side wins more scrum penalties than Exeter and they want a proper contest. If today runs to form, Saints will be in for a torrid time in the set-piece, regardless of what the competition’s ‘scrum success’ stats might tell us.
Popping in: Henry Taylor scores at Leicester but it was a bleak day for Saints (MI News/NurPhoto/Getty)
Northampton’s malaise is highlighted by the selection of Taqele Naiyaravoro, the chart topper for offloads and defenders beaten, on the bench. His form and confidence has withered along with the team’s, with passes going to ground that earlier in the season were being turned into tries. The departure of scrum-half Cobus Reinach has hurt them badly.
Any side with men like Dan Biggar, Courtney Lawes and the on-song David Ribbans in its ranks cannot be taken lightly. However, a Saints win today would be a far bigger upset than even Saracens’ remarkable win yesterday in Leinster.
This will be the ninth European quarter-final for Saints, who won the trophy back in 2000 and came close again in 2011. In contrast, Exeter have reached this stage only once before, losing to Jimmy Gopperth’s last-gasp kick for Wasps in a 2016 quarter-final at Coventry.
Chiefs’ European record fails to reflect their high domestic performance in recent years. It was for days like this that players like Stuart Hogg and Jonny Gray were signed – to take them to places they’ve never been.
You can watch highlights of the teams’ 2019 Premiership semi-final meeting here.
Exeter: Stuart Hogg; Jack Nowell, Henry Slade, Ian Whitten, Tom O’Flaherty; Joe Simmonds (capt), Jack Maunder; Alec Hepburn, Luke Cowan-Dickie, Harry Williams, Jonny Gray, Jonny Hill, Dave Ewers, Jacques Vermeulen, Sam Simmonds.
Replacements: 16 Jack Yeandle, 17 Ben Moon, 18 Tomas Francis, 19 Sam Skinner, 20 Jannes Kirsten, 21 Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, 22 Gareth Steenson, 23 Ollie Devoto.
Northampton: George Furbank; Matt Proctor, Fraser Dingwall, Rory Hutchinson, Ahsee Tuala; Dan Biggar, Henry Taylor, AN Other, Mikey Haywood, Owen Franks, David Ribbans, Api Ratuniyarawa, Courtney Lawes, Lewis Ludlam, Teimana Harrison (capt).
Hand on the tiller: DoR Rob Baxter is warning against complacency for this evening’s game (Getty Images)
How to watch Exeter Chiefs v Northampton Saints from outside your country
If you’re abroad, but still want to watch your local Champions Cup coverage, like Exeter v Northampton, you can do so by using a VPN – Virtual Private Network. VPNs allow you to get around any geo-blocking by changing your IP address so you appear in a different location and can watch the same legal Champions Cup live stream you would at home.
Our friends at TechRadar have tested hundreds of VPN and recommend ExpressVPN, which is easy to use, has strong security features and allows you to watch on several devices at once, including smart TVs and phones, iPads, tablets, PCs and Macs.
Plus, ExpressVPN comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee. You can try it out for a month for free or sign up for an annual plan and get three months free.
Exeter v Northampton live stream: How to watch from the UK & Ireland
Exeter v Northampton, which kicks off at 5.30pm on Sunday, will be shown live on BT Sport 3 in the UK and Ireland. If you don’t have a BT contract but want to watch the match, don’t worry because you can still easily watch it online.
That’s because BT Sport has a contract-free monthly pass that allows you to get instant access to all four of their sport channels for just £25.
If you’re from the UK but are overseas when Exeter v Northampton takes place, you can get your normal live stream but you’ll need a VPN – see the information above.
Exeter v Northampton live stream: How to watch from France
To watch Exeter v Northampton (kick-off 6.30pm) in France, beIN Sports is the place to go as they are the main rights holders. It costs €15 a month to access the coverage or if you commit to six months you get a discount of €12 a month.
Exeter v Northampton live stream: How to watch from Europe
If you’re in Austria, Germany, Italy or Switzerland, you can watch Exeter v Northampton (kick-off 6.30pm) through the live and on-demand streaming service DAZN.
Exeter v Northampton live stream: How to watch from the USA
If you live in the States, the official broadcaster of Champions Cup matches is NBC, with matches streamed on NBC Sports Gold so you can watch them anytime and anywhere.
Exeter v Northampton will kick off at 12.30pm EST and 9am on the West Coast.
The NBC Sports Gold Pass for rugby is $79.99 and includes coverage of the Gallagher Premiership, European Champions and Challenge Cups, and Guinness Six Nations.
Exeter v Northampton live stream: How to watch from Australia
For those in Australia, a subscription to digital rugby network RugbyPass allows you to watch Exeter v Northampton at 2am on Monday (AEST). Subscriptions start from US$4.99 a month.
Exeter v Northampton live stream: How to watch from New Zealand
Spark Sport, the live and on-demand streaming service, has the rights to show Exeter v Northampton in New Zealand. It kicks off at 4am on Monday.
It costs $24.99 for a monthly subscription and you can also sign up for a seven-day FREE trial.
Exeter v Northampton live stream: How to watch from South Africa
SuperSport has the rights to broadcast the Champions Cup in South Africa and you can watch Exeter v Northampton at 6.30pm.
There are various DStv packages available that give access to SuperSport, ranging from EasyView, with access to Blitz, to Premium, with all ten sports channels.
Exeter v Northampton live stream: How to watch from Japan
DAZN, which allows you to live stream sport or watch it on demand, is the place to go to watch Exeter v Northampton in Japan (kick-off 1am). The service is compatible with smart TVs and phones, tablets, PCs, streaming sticks, set-top boxes, gaming consoles and more.
Exeter v Northampton live stream: How to watch from elsewhere
EPCR have launched an OTT service, epcrugby.tv, so you can stream live Champions Cup matches outside of its core broadcast territories (UK & Ireland, France, USA, Malta, Spain, Andorra and Sub-Saharan Africa).
It’s €2.99 to watch a single Champions Cup match or you can buy a season pass to watch all of the remaining games of the 2019-20 campaign for €11.99. Or if you want to watch both the Champions and Challenge Cups, it’s €17.99 for a season pass for the rest of 2019-20.
We recommend VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example:
- Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service)
- Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad
We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.
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