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Saracens announce 2021 Super Rugby friendly to be staged at Tottenham
By Online Editors
Saracens have come up with a plum alternative to their annual use of a large football stadium every year for a Gallagher Premiership fixture, the soon-to-be relegated Londoners arranging a friendly versus the Super Rugby Stormers next season at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Having staged matches at Wembley and the London Stadium in recent years, Saracens were poised to welcome London rivals Harlequins to the new Tottenham ground last March only for the fixture to fall victim to the coronavirus pandemic.
However, rather than allow their impending season in the Championship impact on their multi-year partnership with Spurs for once-a-year use of that facility, Saracens believe a 2021 fixture against a South African side potentially containing a number of World Cup-winning Springboks will be a popular attraction for fans.
Saracens chairman Neil Golding said: “We see this game with the Stormers, alongside our recent player announcements, as strong indicators of the club’s high ambitions.
“Despite the challenges that the club has experienced over this past season, everybody at the club (the board, the players, coaches and support staff at the training ground, all commercial staff and all those supporting our considerable community programmes) is focused on setting our own high standards.
“We want to continue to provide our supporters with fantastic experiences and lasting memories and a game against the Stormers at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium would certainly deliver that.”
Saracens have managed to keep the majority of their Test level contingent on board at the club despite the drop into the English second-tier league, the promise of some high profile exhibition matches one of the reasons for their collective decision to stay on.
Team boss Mark McCall said: “We have a history of filling big stadiums in London for big games and we have also enjoyed a long and fruitful relationship with the Stormers and Western Province, so we are very excited about this game.”
Stormers boss John Dobson added: "Saracens are one of the top club teams in the world and renowned for their innovation and forward-thinking on and off the pitch, which this match is another good example of.
“This trip would give our players the chance to test themselves against a quality team in a world-class venue, and we are very much looking forward to being able to be part of this."
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Latest Comments
GB is England, Scotland, Wales. They are the 3 constituent countries in Great Britain. Ergo playing only those three countries is a tour of GB. The difference between GB and the UK is Northern Ireland. It's not a huge deal to be accurate and call places by their correct name. But please refrain from your idiotic attempts to BS that GB=UK. It doesn't.
Go to commentsThe 2023 draw was only criticized when it became apparent that the top 5 sides in the world were on the same side of the draw. Nowhere did they discuss the decision to backtrack to 2019 rankings which ensured that England and Wales (ranked #12 in 2023) were ranked top4.
The parties who trashed out the schedule were England Rugby, NZ Rugby and ITV. It is bordering on corrupt that a Rugby nation has the power to schedule its opponents to play a major match the week before facing them in a QF.
You won't find commentary by members of the relevant committees because a committee did not make the scheduling decision. I have never heard members of World Rugby speak out on the draw or scheduling issues.
For example in 2015 Japan were hammered by Scotland 4 days after beating SA. The criticism only happens after a cock up.
A fair pool schedule is pretty straightforward: The lowest two tanked teams must play on last pool day but not against each other. That means that TV can focus on promoting big matches with a Tier2 involved for that Friday.
Why does NZ Always get its preferred slot playing the hardest pool match on day 1?
Why do other teams eg France, Ireland, Scotland get so often scheduled to play a hard match the week before the QFs?
If you believe the rules around scheduling are transparent then please point me in the right direction?
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