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Saracens 'opted out of the fight' in Bordeaux pummelling- Jamie George
By PA
Saracens captain Jamie George says they are determined to bounce back in the Gallagher Premiership after suffering an end-of-an-era defeat in Europe.
The 45-12 loss in Bordeaux means some of the key players in three European Cup triumphs are unlikely to appear again for the club in Europe – the scale of the defeat also pointing towards a rebuilding job.
Bordeaux will face English Premiership opposition again next week in the quarter-finals, with Harlequins the visitors to the south west of France.
It will be back to the Premiership for Saracens, currently in third place, while the next time they appear in Europe will be without the likes of Owen Farrell and Billy Vunipola, with the future of some other senior players also uncertain.
“We have a lot of club legends leaving at the end of the season and this is not how we wanted this European journey to end for those guys, for all of us, but we have got to go very hard at the Premiership competition,” said George after the game.
“It really is a tough one to swallow. I’m finding it really hard to sum it up really, because we showed a lot of fight and then we probably opted out of the fight a little bit in the second half.
“When you hand over possession like that to a team like Bordeaux, you are always going to struggle and they showed their class.
“We wish them all the best for the rest of the tournament, a tough pill for us to swallow but we look forward to a big push in the domestic competition.
“We made too many mistakes, they did very well at the breakdown to turn us over, handling errors, a bit loose at times in terms of our attack, and when you give the ball away loosely to a team like Bordeaux they are always going to capitalise.
“All our eggs are in the basket of the domestic competition now, so we are going to give our everything to that.
“We know the history we have got in that, we are as eager as ever to get a trophy at the end of the year, but we know how hard that is going to be given the competition that is there.
“We have got to learn from this to be at our best to do what we want to do come the end of the season.”
Meanwhile, Bordeaux prop Ben Tameifuna is looking forward to facing Harlequins in front of a home crowd next weekend.
“It will be even more crazy,” he said.
“You can tell by tonight the crowd has been awesome, they have been behind us all season, so good thanks to them and we will be good to go next week.”
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Latest Comments
But he chose rightly or wrongly to play for Tonga. If he wanted to play for the ABs why didn’t he hold off?
Go to comments“A succession of recent ex-players going straight back into the game as coaches in their early 40’s would prob be enough to kill it stone-dead. Innovation would die a death.”
Would it? I do think one of the major differences between rugby and most other sports - which we’ve been overlooking - is the degree to which players are expected to lead team meetings & analysis sessions and the like. Someone like Owen Farrell has basically been an assistant coach already for ten years - and he’s been so under a variety of different head coaches with different expectations and playing styles.
“The most interesting ppl I have met in the game have all coached well into their sixties and they value the time and opportunity they have had to reflect and therefore innovate in the game. That’s based on their ability to compare and contrast between multiple eras.”
I don’t doubt that that’s true. But having interesting insights doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be the best able to inspire a team, or the best at managing the backroom staff.
“Wayne Smith winning the WWC in his mid sixties three years ago prob means nothing to you but it meant a lot to him. It took him back to the roots of is own coaching journey.”
I don’t doubt that! But I don’t think coaches should be hired on the basis that it means a lot to them.
“The likes of Carlo Ancelotti and Wayne Bennett and Andy Reid all have a tale to tell. You should open your ears and listen to it!”
I agree! Never have I ever suggested otherwise!
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