Kurtley Beale ruled out of Premiership final farewell as Olly Woodburn returns for Exeter Chiefs

Beale will return to Australia this summer, with Josh Bassett coming in for the Wallaby, while Rob Baxter makes the one change for the Chiefs

Kurtley Beale will miss out after suffering a hamstring injury (Getty)

Kurtley Beale will miss out on a Wasps swansong after the hamstring injury he suffered in last weekend’s victory over Leicester Tigers ruled him out of Saturday’s Premiership final against Exeter Chiefs, with the table-toppers making three changes for the Twickenham encounter.

With Beale ruled out ahead of his return to Australia to re-join the New South Wales Waratahs, South Africa international Willie le Roux moves to full-back to allow Josh Bassett to start on the wing, while Dan Robson is preferred at scrum-half to Joe Simpson, who takes a place among the replacements.

The only other change from the 21-20 semi-final victory over the Tigers comes in the front-row, where Ashley Johnson makes way for the returning Tommy Taylor.

The Wasps’ director of rugby, Dai Young, will lead the club into their first Premiership final for nine years, but that won’t be enough to satisfy the Welshman’s appetite for success as he has issued a rallying call to his squad to go one step further and reclaim the Premiership trophy, something they have not done since 2008.

“The final is new territory for this group of players, but really exciting territory and something our players and coaches can’t wait to be involved in,” Young said. “It’s a big day for the whole squad, who deserve to be in the final after the consistency they’ve shown to finish top of the table, and they have a fantastic opportunity ahead of them. It is also just reward for the hard work of every member of the support staff and off-field team this season.

“We are delighted that everyone associated with the club, including our loyal Wasps supporters, old and new, get to enjoy this showpiece occasion at Twickenham.

“As much as we are going to enjoy it, we want more than that. We are not there to make up the numbers, we are there to give absolutely everything we have to try to win the trophy. It is just another 80 minutes of rugby in which we are determined to do ourselves justice and to produce a performance we can all be proud of.”

Jack Yeandle and Joe Launchbury pose alongside the Premiership trophy

Exeter meanwhile have made just the one change to the side that heroically saw off European champions Saracens in dramatic scenes at Sandy Park last weekend, with the club’s player of the season, Olly Woodburn, back in the side at the expense of James Short, the wing missing out on the matchday squad completely.

Rob Baxter’s decision to stick with the majority of the side that clinched the 18-16 victory means that England international Henry Slade must once again bide his time, despite his brilliant kick to touch in the final seconds of the win over Sarries setting the platform for Sam Simmonds to burrow his way over and score the match-winning try.

Dai Young has tasked his side with winning the Premiership final (Getty)

Exeter will hope that they can make up for last season’s Premiership final heartache by securing their first ever top flight title, and Baxter believes that the experience of losing that game – something Wasps do not have in the locker – could be an advantage for the Chiefs.

“I do believe it will help, I think the experience of those things is very important,” Baxter said. “Saracens were experienced last year and it was still a pretty tight game, so we have to make sure we don’t expect that having that experience from last year will be that big a factor.

Olly Woodburn returns from injury for Exeter (Getty)

“The big factor will be the quality that we play at and that is all you can do as a coach, I am sure Dai Young will be doing the same and he will be telling his team it is about the qualities that they show and the things they do on the day that will be important.

“We have to do exactly the same things. It’s how well we prepare this week and it’s how well we commit to what we want to do on the day that will matter, regardless of experience.”

Jack Nowell scored in the semi-final victory over Saracens (Getty)

Teams:

Wasps: Willie Le Roux; Christian Wade, Elliot Daly, Jimmy Gopperth, Josh Bassett; Danny Cipriani, Dan Robson; Matt Mullan, Tommy Taylor, Phil Swainston; Joe Launchbury, Matt Symons; James Haskell, Thomas Young, Nathan Hughes.

Replacements: Ashley Johnson, Simon McIntyre, Marty Moore, Kearnan Myall, Guy Thompson, Joe Simpson, Alapati Leiua, Frank Halai.

Exeter Chiefs: Phil Dollman; Jack Nowell, Ian Whitten, Ollie Devoto, Olly Woodburn; Gareth Steenson, Stuart Townsend; Ben Moon, Luke Cowan-Dickie, Harry Williams; Dave Dennis, Geoff Parling; Kai Horstmann, Don Armand, Thomas Waldrom.

Replacements: Jack Yeandle, Carl Rimmer, Tomas Francis, Mitch Lees, Sam Simmonds, Will Chudley, Henry Slade, Michele Campagnaro.