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Farrell demands Championship-bound Saracens finish season 'properly'
By PA
Owen Farrell has warned the Gallagher Premiership that Saracens are motivated to continue delivering on the domestic front despite their looming relegation. Farrell bristles at the suggestion the double winners only have their European quarter-final against Leinster to play for after being punished by the league for persistent salary cap breeches.
The England captain made his 200th appearance for Saracens in Saturday's victory over Harlequins having recovered from a minor thigh injury and is targeting a triumphant demotion from the top flight.
"Everyone says the Leinster game is the only competitive rugby that we are going to play - that it's the only game that really means anything - but that's not the case," Farrell said.
"We have got to enjoy ourselves. We want to enjoy ourselves by getting stuck in together.
"There are a few lads that signed deals to finish this season off and we want to make sure we do the end of this season properly.
"We want to enjoy playing together and the only way that you do that is by giving your all. We are working hard to make sure we give 100 per cent."
Saracens boss Mark McCall reflected on the fraught win over Quins by stating his side are "very far away" from the level they need to be to topple Leinster on September 19.
"For the players, the only thing thing we now have to concentrate on is getting the best out of ourselves as soon as possible," Farrell said.
"People talk about us having not much to play for, but we are trying to get the best out of ourselves now."
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Latest Comments
Yeah me too. I think the Welsh have it in them to make it a contest in the first half. Give the boks' second stringers a headache. Disrupting lineouts is one area the welsh could cause problems. Bok lineouts have been subpar.
And then fronting up in the collisions and at the rucks. If the boks get the ascendancy there too early, it could be a hiding. Jaden hendrikse had a tough game against the Scots - who were very good at disrupting the boks flow. The welsh would have taken note of this i'm sure.
But the bok bench will finish the welsh off i'm afraid.
Go to commentsYes, certainly. As an AB fan happy to be included in that top 3 of "matches that are routinely decided by one score" now, we were well outside that for a few years.
They have not had enough games yet. You can't undo so many poor years just like that. Asking for miracles like SA losing is not the way to get back to number 1.
They might get there as those bad years filter out of the rankings but it's guarenteed to be great fun going back and forth with SA once that happens.
Admittedly Foster only really had one bad year (21/22 season), but that's more likely because COVID stopped a lot of tough games from being played, and effected the other countries they did play far more than themselves.
A real shame we both don't get to see it unfold first with our regions teams in SR!
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