NEVER AGAIN
As sorry Sarries follow Wasps out of Europe to end any more English involvement, Farrell vows to put things right quickly
NO sooner had Saracens come to grief, ending English rugby’s involvement in Europe, than Owen Farrell was pledging to put it right.
For the first time since 2013 England will not be represented in the finals of either Champions or Challenge Cup.
The response of national captain Farrell was typical of the competitor he is.
“We’ll look at it,” he said. “Get straight on to it. Make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
No one should doubt he and Saracens will come back stronger for the experience.
Just as Wasps will learn from their failure to defend a lead against Lyon in the final quarter of the other Challenge Cup semi-final, going down 20-18.
The question is whether hard work alone can bridge the gap, which if anything is growing, in club rugby as in the Six Nations, between France and Ireland and the rest. The French clubs massively benefit from an £8.5million salary cap for the Top-14 which dwarfs the £5m lid placed on the English Premiership.
The Irish provinces, with Leinster 80 minutes from a fifth Champions Cup, are owned and funded by the Irish RFU.
There is no formal salary cap and the top players are saved for the biggest games.
After seeing his Sale side beaten last week in the Champions Cup quarterfinals by Racing 92, Alex Sanderson said “of course” the salary cap was preventing English teams from competing with their French counterparts.
“You don’t have the money to sign the quality needed,” he added.
“Logically, that could be right,” said Saracens boss Mark McCall, as he headed home from the Cote d’Azur.
“But I’ve heard this speculation before.
“Back in the day, it was because English players were playing too often but then English clubs started winning. Then it was because Irish players didn’t play enough.
“It’s always dangerous to jump to conclusions. I think we probably need to see what happens next year and the year after.”
With unlimited funds in Japan and significant paydays available in France, who boast three of the four European finalists, the lure of the yen and euro make it hard to see English rugby’s fortunes improving.
For now Saracens will try to use their chastening experience in the Toulon bear pit to fire their quest for Premiership glory.
“We’ve just experienced something that wasn’t great for us but the Premiership has always been our number one target,” said McCall. “We’ve two league games left to guarantee a home semifinal. There’s a few things we can learn rugby-wise here because clearly they exposed some flaws in our game.
“The second thing is dealing with a big game like this and everything that comes with it, which we didn’t handle as well as I thought we would. We’ve got that in the bank. Let’s see what we can do after this.”
Farrell agreed: “We’ll make sure we look inwards and channel our frustration into the rest of the season.”
TOULON - Tries: Villiere 2, Wainiqolo. Cons: Carbonel 2. Pens: Carbonel 2.
- Try: Earl. Con: Farrell. Pens: Farrell 3.