Thomas Waldrom: Exeter Chiefs forward to miss Premiership final with knee injury

Thomas Waldrom was also the Premiership's leading try-scorer last season

Exeter Chiefs number eight Thomas Waldrom will miss the Premiership final on Saturday with a knee ligament injury, the club has confirmed.

The New Zealand-born forward picked up the injury in the closing stages of their semi-final win against Wasps.

The 33-year-old has scored 19 tries this season, the most in the league.

Meanwhile, scrum-half Will Chudley is free to play against Saracens after he was ruled to have accidentally kicked Joe Launchbury in the semi-final.

A Rugby Football Union commission said "on a balance of probabilities" an attempt to kick the ball resulted in "accidental contact" with Launchbury.

They added it "was not the result of a reckless or deliberate kicking action".

Exeter beat Wasps 34-23 on Saturday to reach their first Premiership final.

The RFU panel concluded that the contact with Launchbury's head was caused by Chudley's knee being deflected off the thigh of Wasps prop Matt Mullan.

Chudley, 28, was attempting to kick the ball out of the base of a ruck in order to disrupt a Wasps attack when the incident occurred.

The scrum-half has played a part in every one of Exeter's Premiership matches this season.