For the third successive year Saracens are the last English side standing in the Europe’s premier competition. And still people are sceptical about them, struggling to see beyond the cliche of a club with delusions of fez-headed grandeur, an allegedly creative attitude to the salary cap and an unromantic gameplan. Their Houdini-style quarter‑final escape against Racing Métro, we are told, was more about luck than judgment.
Fair summary or jealous fiction? The financial support of their wealthy South African backers is real enough – as are the club’s current losses of £5m per season – but the balance sheet and kick‑chase jibes do not tell the entire story. The team Nigel Wray and friends helped propel from a public park in Southgate to Europe’s top table remain among the more fascinating sporting case studies anywhere in the world. Which other English club would have prepared for Saturday’s colossal Clermont game by bringing in a Gaelic football coach? Luck – and money – is not the only reason they lose infrequently.
This week’s Irish visitor, Jim McGuinness, was merely the latest in a stream of external speakers, brought in to make absolutely sure Sarries never settle for the orthodox. As well as securing Donegal an all-Ireland title for only the second time in 120 years, McGuinness was the sports psychologist at the elbow of Paul McGinley, Europe’s Ryder Cup-winning captain.
Saracens’ director of rugby, Mark McCall, felt the 42-year-old was just the passionate voice needed to encourage Saracens to overturn Saturday’s steepling odds: “When he took over at Donegal in 2010, they hadn’t won a game for three seasons and hadn’t won a championship for 19 seasons. He took them on a journey over four years which seemed a very similar one to our own. He also received a lot of criticism along the way for his style of play. That was one of the reasons we got him in.”
Force-feeding the players with fresh inspiration beyond the weekly tactical diet is central to Saracens’ mindset. Jacques Burger, the remarkable Namibian flanker whose perseverance in the face of persistent knee pain is in itself an object lesson, has seen motivators, polar explorers, high-achievers and military men come and go but still finds their testimonies valuable. Listening to the widow of a 9/11 victim and an Auschwitz survivor, in particular, has sharpened his sense of perspective: “You learn a little bit from everybody. You’re never too old, too good or too smart to learn something.”
Might this be the ultimate source of Saracens’ never-say-die attitude and underpin the “luck” that has brought them this far? You can certainly draw parallels between Saracens’ best days and the on-field example of men such as Burger and Brad Barritt who, on the big occasions, give a completely new meaning to the phrase mind over matter.
Clermont will definitely not have forgotten Burger’s other-worldly defensive effort in Saracens’ record 46-6 semi-final win at Twickenham 12 months ago. By rights Burger should have retired long ago; his knee still gives him daily gyp but, at 31, his ticking career clock transcends such minor details. “Sometimes after matches I can’t believe what the human body is capable of. It’s an incredible thing. I’m still sore every day but I now know what I’m dealing with. I know how I can perform even with pain and how far I can push myself.”
The Michelin-backed giants will also be met forcibly at the gain-line by Saracens’ rock-solid captain Barritt, whose unflinching qualities were again eulogised by McCall this week: “Our experience is that in games as big and physical as this you need your warriors. There’s no one who epitomises that more than Brad. His presence generates confidence and his influence on the team is profound.”
Those might sound a touch hyperbolic until you hear Barritt explain what has driven Sarries since last season’s twin domestic and European final disappointments. “We looked at other sports and picked out the example of the San Antonio Spurs,” reports the England centre. “Two or three seasons before they won a championship they lost in the NBA finals to the Miami Heat. Their mantra was to keep doing what they were doing, to keep “pounding the rock”. By sticking to what they did and adding one-per-centers each season they ended up champions. We’d like to think we’ve a similar story ahead of us.”
The collective message, in short, is that Clermont may be favourites to reach next month’s Twickenham final but Sarries will take some rolling over. McCall was the non-playing captain of Ulster when they won the Heineken Cup in 1999 but no one else at the club knows how it feels to be a European champion. “Every year you try and push,” emphasises McCall. “As a club we don’t want to stand still. Improvement can come from individual players, as well as attacking or defensive systems. The players work really hard day-in day-out and that’s where the consistency has been bred from.”
It has been conspicuous how many younger Saracens players have kicked on this year. George Kruis, 25, has already represented England, fellow lock Maro Itoje, 20, who starts against Clermont, will undoubtedly join him on the international stage and Jackson Wray and Jamie George, both 24, have become increasingly influential. What has really pleased McCall is that his side’s increased attacking focus has not compromised their defensive zeal. “Our defence is back to where it was two years ago. One of the things I was nervous about was that our foundations – set piece, kicking game and defence – would get diluted and we would become this wishy-washy club. At times last year we conceded too many tries but, particularly in the last three months, our defence has gone through the roof again.”
Another super-human rock-pounding effort will surely be required to stop Clermont reaching the final, where Toulon again look the likeliest opponents. But then you listen to Burger reflecting on the wisdom McGuinness imparted this week. “He was talking about the fear of not giving everything and how you’d feel afterwards if that happened. Yes, tThe French sides are big and physical and if you don’t match them there they will bully you. But we like the physical challenge and accept it every time. We’ll be very disappointed if we lose that battle.”
There is a steelier edge to Saracens than some give them credit for.
