Jamie George has set his sights on another domestic and European double after Saracens made a “statement of intent” by thrashing Glasgow Warriors to book a Champions Cup semi-final against Munster.
Saracens made for the Austrian Alps on Sunday for one of their famous team bonding trips in the skiing village of St Anton after clinching a sixth European semi-final in seven years in style on Saturday.
Not even the late withdrawal of Owen Farrell – to be by the side of his wife, Georgie, for the birth of their son – could derail the two-time champions with Alex Goode stepping in at fly-half in Saracens’ emphatic 56-27 win. Brad Barritt’s late ankle injury – “potentially devastating”, according to the director of rugby, Mark McCall – was the only downside for Saracens who will now face Munster in the last four at Coventry’s Ricoh Arena on 20 April.
Last season Saracens fell at the quarter-final stage, going down to the eventual champions Leinster but recovered to claim the Premiership title. Nine more victories this season would guarantee Saracens both trophies again – a feat they achieved in 2016. “Our aim, without doubt, is to go unbeaten for the rest of the season, because to achieve what we want to achieve, that is what we’ll need to do,” said George.
“At the beginning of the season, we’re fully aware of what we want to do. Yes, we are still aware of it at this stage of the season. At the start of the year, we said we want to be one of the best teams in Europe, consistently. It was pretty clear we wanted to have a real good crack at this. To be the only unbeaten team in the tournament is a statement of intent.”
Saracens met Munster at the semi‑final stage two seasons ago with McCall’s side prevailing 26-10 in Dublin. George is expecting another bruising encounter and believes Saracens must make considerable improvements despite notching another half-century on Saturday.
“I honestly think we are quite a long way off where we need to be, which is disappointing, but also exciting at the same time,” he said. “We can’t be too hard on what we did [against Glasgow] but we were good with the ball and not so good without it.
Team of the weekend
15 Liam Williams Saracens
14 Teddy Thomas Racing 92
13 Sofiane Guitoune Toulouse
12 Stuart McCloskey Ulster
11 Keith Earls Munster
10 Finn Russell Racing 92
9 Antoine Dupont Toulouse
1 Pierre Schoeman Edinburgh
2 Jamie George Saracens
3 Tadhg Furlong Leinster
4 Tadhg Beirne Munster
5 Maro Itoje Saracens
6 Peter O’Mahony Munster
7 Jordi Murphy Ulster
8 Jack Conan Leinster
Ford focus
Leicester have responded to the threat of Premiership relegation by recruiting the former England defence coach Mike Ford to assist director of rugby Geordan Murphy. Ford, who will again be working with his son George, will commence his new role this week with Leicester just five points off the bottom of the table with five matches left.
Rising to the challenge
The prospect of at least one English club featuring in the European Challenge Cup final for a fifth year in succession is looking realistic after Sale Sharks and Harlequins overcame Connacht and Worcester in their quarter-finals. Bristol Bears and Northampton, though, were both well beaten by La Rochelle and Clermont Auvergne in France.
Try of the weekend
Maxime Médard, Toulouse There were several contenders in the Saracens-Glasgow game but nothing to match Toulouse’s first-half score again Racing. Even in this era of outrageous offloads the righthanded flick from Lucas Tauzin to Sofiane Guitoune was something extra special before the elusive centre cut back inside to release Médard on a mazy run to the line.
“[Munster] will fight for everything. They are well coached, well drilled and they’re a tough team to break down so it’s going to be a good contest. If you look at Munster and us, we value the same things as a team and as a club – that’s why it’s going to be a good contest.”
