The only thing driving Saracens to win more trophies
It has been over four years since Saracens last lifted the Investec Champions Cup, and in that time they have been through a lot.
Two of those years they were not even competing in the competition after spending a season in the Championship in 2020/21, and obviously failing to qualify as a result the following season. Those two absent seasons were bookended by a semi-final loss to Racing 92 in 2020 and a quarter-final loss to eventual champions La Rochelle last season.
Saracens confirmed their return to the top of domestic rugby last season by winning the Gallagher Premiership, but they may still have a point to prove on the European front that they are again the force they once were.
The loss to Ronan O'Gara's La Rochelle at the Stade Marcel Deflandre in April was particularly chastening for the three-time champions as they were physically dominated up front in a manner unseen in recent years. Now appearing to be firing on all cylinders with the return of their World Cup contingent after a shaky start to the campaign, the London outfit may well have revenge on the agenda when they turn their attention to the Champions Cup with a trip to Loftus Versfeld to take on the Bulls on December 9.
But for captain Owen Farrell and his team, none of that seems to be going through their minds. Instead, they seem to be driven by one thing and one thing only, and that is their love of winning titles. Success breeds success, and having tasted Champions Cup success on three occasions, Farrell recently said that the desire to reach the pinnacle of the club game again is all that is fueling his teammates.
"We would love to win a European cup this year because we'd love to win a European cup," the England captain said at the season launch of the Investec Champions Cup at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
"It's not because of things that have happened before and so on. A good few of us have been lucky enough to have the chance to win it before and that taste for that is massive. And we want to be back up there. We've not been up there for a few years and we want to improve on last year and be at the back end of the tournament."
With that said, it does not mean that Saracens have not learnt from the past. The loss to La Rochelle was perhaps the most severe and humbling lesson Saracens have been taught by any team in over a decade. Farrell not only believes that such lessons will be beneficial for the upcoming campaign, but he is sure they actually benefited the men in black for the denouement of the Premiership season, as they finished at the summit of the league and defeated Sale Sharks in the final too.
"It certainly taught us a lot of lessons at the back end of last year, this tournament," he said.
"It certainly showed us some things we needed to improve towards the end, going back into the Premiership, and I thought we ended up doing that pretty well. But we don't want to make those mistakes again in the tournament this year. We want to be challenging, we want to be bringing the best out of ourselves in the big occasions."
Saracens get their campaign underway with their trip to South Africa to face the Bulls before hosting Connacht at the StoneX Stadium a week later.
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> It would be best described as an elegant solution to what was potentially going to be a significant problem for new All Blacks coach Scott Robertson. It is a problem the mad population of New Zealand will have to cope with more and more as All Blacks are able to continue their careers in NZ post RWCs. It will not be a problem for coaches, who are always going to start a campaign with the captain for the next WC in mind. > Cane, despite his warrior spirit, his undoubted commitment to every team he played for and unforgettable heroics against Ireland in last year’s World Cup quarter-final, was never unanimously admired or respected within New Zealand while he was in the role. Neither was McCaw, he was considered far too passive a captain and then out of form until his last world cup where everyone opinions changed, just like they would have if Cane had won the WC. > It was never easy to see where Cane, or even if, he would fit into Robertson’s squad given the new coach will want to be building a new-look team with 2027 in mind. > Cane will win his selections on merit and come the end of the year, he’ll sign off, he hopes, with 100 caps and maybe even, at last, universal public appreciation for what was a special career. No, he won’t. Those returning from Japan have already earned the right to retain their jersey, it’s in their contract. Cane would have been playing against England if he was ready, and found it very hard to keep his place. Perform, and they keep it however. Very easy to see where Cane could have fit, very hard to see how he could have accomplished it choosing this year as his sabbatical instead of 2025, and that’s how it played out (though I assume we now know what when NZR said they were allowing him to move his sabbatical forward and return to NZ next year, they had actually agreed to simply select him for the All Blacks from overseas, without any chance he was going to play in NZ again). With a mammoth season of 15 All Black games they might as well get some value out of his years contract, though even with him being of equal character to Richie, I don’t think they should guarantee him his 100 caps. That’s not what the All Blacks should be about. He absolutely has to play winning football.
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