GREAT ESCAPE
Wasps victory gifts last-eight spot to Sarries
WASPS spared England the embarrassment of a European whitewash — but only with a victory that sent one of their greatest rivals through to the quarter-finals.
A weekend of mad mathematics ended with four French, two Irish, one Welsh and only one English team — Saracens — left in the Champions Cup.
Sarries snuck in after they had ripped Northampton Saints to pieces on Saturday, winning 62-14, and Wasps snuffed out Ulster’s hopes with a bonus-point win in Coventry. Wasps’ victory was not enough to send them through as Racing 92 and Toulon booked the other best-loser slots.
Never before have England’s Premiership contingent all failed to qualify, and this is only the third time just one has got through.
Nevertheless, Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall knows his side are the team everyone wanted to avoid.
‘It won’t hold any fears to go away from home,’ he said. ‘We’ve proved that away at Wasps, three weeks ago, Welford Road five weeks ago. Even at Clermont in the past. We’ve won in Ulster, we’ve been to Racing and won, we are just thrilled to stay in the competition.’
He almost ran out of superlatives for Owen Farrell, who took a 27-point haul against the Saints.
‘Owen Farrell was just amazing,’ he said. ‘He grows all the time as a player and as a leader. He’s been one of many senior players during this period of time who have shown real maturity and experience. He’s been outstanding.’
Win against Leinster, who beat Saracens twice in the 2010- 11 European Cup, and the north Londoners could either host Scarlets at an English venue, yet to be determined, or travel to France to play La Rochelle, depending on which side win that quarter-final. Wasps’ capitulation last week in the final half-hour at the Stoop, where they went from 28-12 up to lose 33-28, ultimately stung them. ‘This competition is unforgiving,’ said director of rugby Dai Young. ‘You don’t even have to have one 80- minute poor performance. Pretty much 30 minutes has probably cost us a place in the quarter-finals.’
Young does not think the brutal rugby calendar in England is to blame for the failings of the clubs in Europe, and having helped Saracens qualify, he now hopes they go on to win a third crown.
‘ We do feel like we are in it together,’ he added. ‘We are all rivals when it comes to the Aviva Premiership but we want as many English teams through to the knockout stages as possible because it reflects well on the Premiership. It has been great that Sarries have won it the last couple of seasons. In 2016 we had five through.
‘Who would bet against them going all the way again? They are the standard bearers and rightly so. They’ve developed some wonderful players, they’ve got a wonderful team and when they’re all playing they’re going to take some beating.
‘They’re still the team we’ve all got to chase. We all get excited when they go on a two-game losing streak, everyone saying they’re on the wane. They’ve got enough quality in there to go all the way.’
On a horrid afternoon and with a poor surface, Wasps did all they could in Coventry. Danny Cipriani conducted them expertly and tries from Guy Thompson, Tom Cruse, Willie le Roux and Jake Cooper-Woolley took them well clear of Ulster.
The Irish only scored through a giveaway to Sean Reidy and with that were out too.