Unless Saracens suffer an outbreak of triskaidekaphobia – fear of the number 13 – at Sale , they should equal Munster’s record of successive victories in the European Cup in what has been a remarkable year for the champions, who also hold the Premiership.
Owen Farrell and George Kruis have tasted defeat once this year, at Harlequins in January. They have played 27 matches for their club and England, who went through 2016 unbeaten with 13 victories in 13 Tests, while the Vunipola brothers, Mako and Billy, have been on the losing side twice, against Quins on each occasion, having made 35 and 31 appearances respectively.
The match against Sale, who were thrashed 50-3 at Allianz Park last Saturday, is Saracens’ penultimate match of a year that will for them end against Newcastle at home on Christmas Eve. The year started with a defeat that ended a run of 15 consecutive victories in all competitions and, other than Harlequins, no one has beaten Saracens when they have had all their England players available. At least one victory has been recorded against every other side in the Premiership, including both the relegated London Irish and promoted Bristol.
Sale lost to Saracens this season in front of their own supporters, 28-13 in the league last month during the autumn international series. The Sharks have lost their past five matches and are not enjoying the home comforts of previous seasons with Gloucester, Saracens, Exeter and Toulon all leaving Salford victorious in the past three months.
“Our consistency gives us the fear factor,” says the Saracens’ outside-half, Alex Lozowski, one of the new members of the squad from last season. “We have not lost in Europe for ages [13-9 to Clermont Auvergne in the April 2015 semi-final], but I wouldn’t say teams are looking at us thinking we are unbeatable; every club believes they can beat another. When you play you have to have belief: you cannot go into a match thinking you are going to lose.
“The players are desperate to do well again in Europe this year and I would love to win it for the first time but no one is talking about last season. The focus is simply on going as far as we can in the tournament and, while we have made a good start in the group, there are teams who have put in good performances and are looking really strong.
“The sooner you can qualify for the quarter-finals the better and we need to play well at Sale to put us in the driving seat in the pool. We want to come back into the competition in January in a really strong position to top the group, which is why Sunday is a massively important game for us.”
Sale are out of contention for a place in the last eight after losing their opening three pool matches and failing to pick up a bonus point. Their priority is to avoid sliding down the Premiership table any further and joining Worcester and Bristol in the relegation fight.
Their preparations this week were disrupted by a dispute with Castleford over Denny Solomona, who signed for the Sharks on a three-year deal despite having a contract with the rugby league club. The Tigers have issued a high court writ against Sale for damages. Solomona makes his debut for Sale on the right wing with another recent league recruit, Josh Charnley, on the left. Steve Diamond has made five changes in the pack, all in the second row, where Josh Beaumont is unavailable through injury, and the back row.
“Saracens showed what a great team they have when they beat us last weekend but we didn’t play well and you can’t afford one yellow card let alone three if you are going to challenge them,” says Sale’s director of rugby.
“It’s been a tough week on the training field. We have some big games coming up. The lads are hurting at the moment and wanting to get back to the way we all know they can perform.”
Saracens have made two personnel changes, with the hooker Jamie George dropping to the bench and Jackson Wray replacing Kelly Brown in the back row.
It is nearly two years since Saracens lost a European Cup pool match away from home, at Clermont, in a season when they recorded a back-to-back double over Sale. History, if little else, offers hope for Sale. In 1982 Argentina conceded 50 points in losing to South Africa in Pretoria. When they played them again the following week, they won 21-12, with their outside-half, Hugo Porta, scoring all their points.
