King Billy of Europe!
Vunipola inspires Saracens to superb double Champions Cup triumph
OWEN Farrell was crowned European player of the year and Billy Vunipola was hailed as king of the bone-crushers as Saracens became the first English team since Leicester to retain the European Cup.
Vunipola’s 20 barnstorming carries and Chris Ashton’s record-breaking 37th European Cup try set Sarries on their way to a 28-17 victory at Murrayfield – and they can now set their sights on a double ‘double’.
Battling Clermont twice closed to within a point but never led in a scintillating contest which ebbed and flowed before Alex Goode’s try seven minutes from time broke their resistance.
Farrell said: “You’ve got to be proud of this side. A lot of us have known each other since we were 14 or 15
while other guys have been at the club four or five years. We know each other inside out so that breeds tremendous unity among our squad.
“To get to the final again was special but you have to build. You can’t just keep doing what you’ve done before so to play the way we did and show that attacking side of our game over 80 minutes and win another Champions Cup was satisfying.”
After watching his side weather Clermont’s secondhalf fightback, Saracens rugby director Mark McCall praised his team’s composure in the final quarter.
The Ulsterman said: “I’m chuffed to win back-to-back Champions Cups but the most pleasing thing for me was the manner of our victory. When they scored that 100-metre try we might have gone into our shells but instead we just kept attacking the game.
“Clermont gave us a heck of a match. It felt like we were dominant for large parts of it in terms of territory and we attacked very well, but we never got away from them on the scoreboard so to have the patience and control to see it out was tremendous.”
Ashton’s early try took him ahead of France legend Vincent Clerc in the all-time try-scoring chart.
He joked: “I was really happy that Alex (Goode) put his first decent kick in this season.”
He added: “I won’t lie, I was pretty pleased with that try, but a lot of it isn’t down to me, it’s down to the group of players I’ve been with for the last five years.
“It’s nice for my name to be up there with some great players in European rugby but a lot of the credit goes to the club. Our attacking play was outstanding and, from where I was standing on my wing, the lads were pretty amazing to watch.
“We’ll enjoy this and then get our minds on our playoff at Exeter.”
Saracens travel to Exeter for a Premiership semi-final on Saturday and McCall hammered out an ominous warning: “We looked like we improved from last year’s final against Racing 92 and showed the qualities of our all-round game. The age profile of our group is good and if we’re hungry enough there’s no reason we can’t get even better.”