SARACENS
SARACENS celebrated booking their third European Cup fi nal appearance with a whistle- stop trip to Barcelona yesterday.
The 36- hour knees- up in Catalonia was just reward for their admirable achievement but also a chance for a squad that second- row Jim Hamilton likened to a “brotherhood” to pull even closer together ahead of the push towards successive league- and- cup Doubles.
With a Premiership play- off spot in the bag and their Champions Cup fi nal place secured after Saturday’s ruthless rope- a- doping of Munster at the Aviva Stadium, they are three games from emulating the great Leicester side of 15 years ago.
“We want to make our own legacy. We want to look back and be counted as one of the great teams. That comes from winning trophies but that’s not the only thing. We want to make memories as a group. That’s the biggest driver for us,” said Mako Vunipola, whose second- half try killed off the one- dimensional Irishmen.
The close- range rumble was only half of a virtuoso display from the England prop whose range of skills, which included raking grubber- kicks in Dublin, are redefi ning a front row’s job description.
For once, Mako even eclipsed brother Billy but not by much, with the England back row winning his No8 battle against fellow Lion CJ Stander hands down and leading an offensive defensive effort that epitomised what Saracens stand for.
Even when Jackson Wray was sin- binned in the fi rst half for a high tackle, Munster met an onrushing brick wall. For any opposition to fi nd a chink of light these days is almost impossible.
Saracens have done their learning with semi- fi nal and fi nal defeats. They are now the undisputed masters of the European game. “The boys have that fi ght in them intrinsically and that comes when you lose tight games together before, but it’s also the relationships we have – it’s an amazing group to be a part of,” said Billy Vunipola.
“Everyone on the outside hates us but we don’t care. If you come in, you’ll get so much love you won’t want to leave.”
He would once have been right with that remark.
Rolling in South African rand and investigated for salary cap abuses, they were the new money sneered at by the establishment. It did not help that they played a game that was akin to rugby anaesthetic.
But Saracens have passed the tipping point. The mechanical approach may still not set the pulse racing but it is impossible not to admire the precision with which they go about their work and – as Mako and Chris Wyles proved – they score tries these days. George Kruis and Richard Wigglesworth should have put away two more in Dublin .
They are a special team in every sense. Hooker Schalk