Desire, not money, drives these remarkable Saracens

Victory on Sunday was one of the great club displays and they deserve due credit

Are Saracens a force for good in the game? There has never been any quibbling from this quarter about their attraction, their influence, their worth. Yet many others have been begrudging at best, downright hostile at worst, perceiving them to be a bunch of spendthrift highrollers, flashing the Nigel Wray chequebook when it suits to put together their cast of galacticos.

The notion that they have merely bought their way to the top is arrant nonsense. Even now, after one of the most imperious performances I have witnessed in more than 20 years of covering European competition, their eight-try, 57-13 victory over Northampton at Franklin’s Gardens on Sunday evening, many prefer to focus on the inadequacies of the Saints (many as there were) rather than Saracens’ majestic display.

This was a special showing, on a par with the all-consuming Brive side of 1997, a team who made a good Leicester outfit, who had beaten Toulouse in the semi-final, flail and grasp as they ran riot, winning 28-9. Or, indeed, comparable to any of those majestic Toulouse sides, laced with glittering talents such as Emile Ntamack or Frederic Michalak or hard-nosed grunts in the gnarled form of Fabien Pelous or Jean Bouilhou. Wasps and Lawrence Dallaglio, Munster and Paul O’connell, Leinster and Brian O’driscoll, Toulon and Jonny Wilkinson – this Saracens team are the equal of any of these champion sides.

What was most engaging about Sunday’s win was that it was as much about heart and soul as it was about muscle and bone. This was not a moneyed performance, a reflection only of boardroom riches. It is the spirit that binds them together which really elevates them above and beyond the norm.

Saracens had the attacking bonus point in the bag by halftime. When prop Vincent Koch rumbled over within 100 seconds of the restart, the contest was emphatically over.

Well, it was for the 13,320 in the ground, the vast majority of them numbed by what they had seen. But it was far from finished in the minds of Saracens themselves, nor, for that matter, in the put-upon ranks of the Saints. Shattered they may have been but they had one last rage against the dying light within them. Led by the indefatigable Courtney Lawes, Northampton managed to stir.

The scoreboard was way beyond them, Saracens adding further tries. Yet the London side were hell bent on not yielding when it came to protecting their own try-line. Jackson Wray flung himself into every tackle. George Kruis and Nick Isiekwe likewise.

And leading the one-for-all musketeer charge was Owen Farrell, as steadfast and committed to defending the rear field as if the scores were level and the clock ticking into the last minute. Not for him the thought of reining back and sparing his body for the many battles to come.

Farrell was something of a pantomime villain following a controversial tackle on Ben Foden, the Saracens fly-half being booed even when lining up kicks at goal despite the fact that the big screen was urging spectators to “Respect the Kicker”.

That was poor form from the Franklin’s faithful, as much a sign of frustration with their own team as it was, in truth, with Farrell himself. How they would appreciate a player of Farrell’s relish for the fray. His attitude runs throughout this side. Two questions spring to mind following such an early showing from the champions: have they peaked too soon and who has the wherewithal to beat them?

The first is not wholly a facile inquiry, tempting as it was to pose to Mark Mccall in the immediate aftermath. The Saracens director of rugby knows full well that keeping his side at such a fever-pitch of enthusiasm and excellence will occupy many a waking hour between now and a potential final in Bilbao in May. He would be the last to assume anything, all the more so with Clermont Auvergne in Saracens’ group.

Yet Les Jaunards are not the force they once were. La Rochelle have quickly acquired the mantle of French heavyweight contenders, even though this is their first year in the elite competition. Montpellier were slow out of the blocks against a sprightly Leinster side without their own stars. They will feature as the tournament progresses, with notable challenges to come from Toulon and Scarlets.

But Saracens have set the pace. They are a side with pomp in their stride but humility in their soul. Catch them while you can.