History shows it is almost impossible to fashion a successful international team from one club side. Warren Gatland began by picking the Ospreys en masse as his first Wales team and they won at Twickenham but in the long run the dynamic at Test level is so different and the demands on individuals and combinations so contrasting that one-club togetherness can be divisive on the grand stage.
That said, Saracens in general and seven of their number in particular – there are eight altogether in Eddie Jones’s England squad but Alex Goode was nursing a bump – played so well in the dispatch of Ulster that the case they presented before the national coach may prove irresistible. Saracens recovered from their first defeat of the season against Harlequins in the Premiership to lay Ulster low in Europe, score four tries and qualify for the quarter- finals with a game to spare.
For a team still chastised for being a little lacking in beauty, Saracens are scoring for fun and are in credit to the tune of 136 points between their tally and what their wolf-pack defence leaks. To be abundant and stingy; Jones could not ask for much more.
Of the seven on view here, perhaps Chris Ashton on the wing may miss the England matchday team. His judgment of where the ball might be going remains as sound as ever and he is unselfish in possession. He gave a sweet pass in the buildup to the gliding break by Owen Farrell, who played with huge authority everywhere but off the tee, and the try for Duncan Taylor. It is just that when Ashton is caught in possession, his composure falters and England will not want to be going to Scotland with a question mark over their willingness to give everything to hang on to the ball.
Maro Itoje is one of the newcomers to the England squad. It is easy to see what he does well: he eats up the ground with a loping gait, one that still leaves tacklers sprawling. He also played his part in a fully functioning lineout, the set piece that led to many driving mauls and tries for Billy Vunipola and himself, and the spectacular breakout by the replacement hooker Schalk Brits for the bonus-point fourth try.
The Vunipola brothers had fine outings too. Billy charged head down but also lifted it to see opportunities for neat little passes. Mako drove willingly too, in the loose and on the left side of the scrum. He used to play as a natural impact player off the bench; now he looks full of menace from kick-off to beyond the hour mark.
George Kruis does not look quite so natural as a ball-carrying second-row, but he was excellent at the lineout and elsewhere in the loose. Michael Rhodes, also raised in South Africa, was another who sold himself to the unspectacular – pinching ball at the lineout, hitting rucks and simply being a large presence in Ulster’s face.
Ulster had much to play for and in Stuart McCloskey they had the most forthright runner on the field. Not everything the centre tried by hand came off but on his legs he is proving hugely difficult to bring down. Just when the European game has to look beyond the bosh of Jamie Roberts and Mathieu Bastareaud, along comes a big beast from Bangor to remind us of the effectiveness of midfield power. McCloskey is not without deft touches either. When he sorts out his decision-making he will surely hear Ireland calling.
It was McCloskey’s run that set up the first try for Luke Marshall from a threaded kick by Jared Payne. Ulster scored the last try as well from an interception and gallop by Ian Humphreys but the hour in between belonged exclusively to Saracens, neat, compact, forceful and fleet of foot and tempo. One club in cracking form. There are less solid bases on which to build a national team.
Saracens Ransom (Hodgson, 61); Ashton, Bosch (Tompkins, 61), Taylor, Wyles; Farrell, Wigglesworth (De Kock, 61); M Vunipola (Barrington, 63), George (capt; Brits, 56), Du Plessis (Figallo, 56), Itoje, Kruis, Rhodes, Fraser (Wray, 63), B Vunipola.
Tries B Vunipola, Taylor, Itoje, Brits. Con Farrell. Pens Farrell 3.
Ulster Payne; Trimble, L Marshall (Scholes, 71), McCloskey, Gilroy; Jackson (Humphreys, 61), Pienaar (P Marshall, 75); McCall (Black, 75), Best (capt; Herring, 61), Herbst (Lutton, 35), O’Connor (Stevenson, 75), Van der Merwe (Ross, 66), Diack, Reidy, Wilson.
Tries L Marshall, Humphreys. Cons Jackson, Pienaar. Pens Jackson.
Referee J Garcès (Fr). Attendance 9,642
