Shadow man Singleton is ready to step into the light
JACK Singleton must be wondering what hit him. No sooner had he recovered from having to stand by helplessly and watch as his team-mates in the England pack were demolished in their set-piece battle with South Africa in the World Cup final in Yokohama, than he got off the plane at Heathrow ready to report for duty at his new club, Saracens, only to discover that they too had been knocked into the middle of next week.
While four seasons of battling relegation at Worcester will have forged a streak of stubbornness and resilience in the 23-year-old who went to Japan as England’s third-choice hooker, it will have been a doddle compared to having to confront the mountainous 35 point deduction, and £5.3m fine, handed to European and domestic double champions Saracens for Premiership salary cap infractions the day he returned home.
The best hookers have to be straight shooters, whether at the lineout, the scrum, or carrying the ball, and Singleton – who was on the sidelines for the entire World Cup campaign, bar 12 minutes of match action against the USA – gave a candid response when asked about his initial reaction to the news.
Singleton said he had no inkling of the salary cap verdict while he was in Japan: “It was a bit of a shock, but at the World Cup I did not play too much, so I was just itching to get back and start playing, and fit in with the new team. It didn’t really bother me massively, and I just wanted to focus on the game at the weekend and start ripping-in with the squad.”
He did just that, making his Premiership debut after coming off the bench for Saracens amid the acrimony and accusations of cheating the cap surrounding last weekend’s away game against Gloucester.
Singleton holds the line, describing the atmosphere at Kingsholm last weekend as “good”. He elaborates: “We had a plan, and we went out there and executed it pretty well. The crowd were always going to be on our back regarding the news. The Shed can be Gloucester’s worst enemy sometimes as well… and that’s what we were trying to do, to play our rugby, not really think about that (off field stuff), and block them out. I think we did that pretty well.”
Saracens emerged from that backsto the-wall encounter with a 21-12 win, and Singleton, who is in the starting line-up for this afternoon’s European Cup opener against Racing 92 at their brand-new 30,000 seater indoor stadium, the La Defense Arena, is hoping for a repeat performance.
He acknowledges that a young Saracens side shorn of their rested England World Cup luminaries, as well as handicapped by a long injury list, face “a massive test” against a star-studded Racing outfit featuring Scotland playmaker Finn Russell, quixotic former Ireland wing Simon Zebo, and France’s ace World Cup centre Virimi Vatakawa.
However, his attitude is unflinching despite the odds stacked against the defending champions. “One of the reasons I wanted to join Saracens was to play in these huge Champions Cup games – and what a place to play,
Racing, in their new stadium.”
Singleton continues: “I want to win. We’ve got the Champions Cup at the moment, and we are trying to defend that against Racing. We are the holders, so that’s all I’m focusing on – and then when we get back into the Premiership, we are also the holders, so my main aim again is to win.”
His emphasis on winning reflects the perilous position that Saracens will be in should their appeal against the verdict – which has to be lodged with Premiership Rugby by Monday – be unsuccessful.
Saracens will be so severely handicapped by a full 35 point penalty that they will struggle to avoid relegation, and if the worst-case scenario happens, and they drop down to the Championship, their participation in the European Cup will also, almost certainly, be curtailed.
Even if Singleton and company come away from Paris with either a win over Racing, or a losing bonus point, and Saracens go on to defy the odds by retaining their European Cup title this season, it is almost certain that, if they are relegated, Saracens will be ruled out of defending their title by Premiership Rugby if they are in the Championship.
The Saracens owner, Nigel Wray, is very unlikely to let that scenario unfold without challenging a salary cap verdict which appears to be flawed in a number of areas. One of these is that the co-investments he has with Saracens players like Maro Itoje and the Vunipola brothers cannot be seen as trusts – which are seen as salary – because the investment can rise or fall.
There is also the possibility of the severity of the sanction being irrational because imposing maximum punishment does not reflect the disciplinary panel ruling that there was no attempt by Saracens to mislead, deceive, or hide payments.
Lastly, there is a question of procedural unfairness if Premiership Rugby did not at the time challenge Saracens over salary infractions which occurred in 2016-17, rather than waiting for a further two years before doing so.
In the meantime, the Saracens director of rugby, Mark McCall, has had to make big selection calls, among which was not being stampeded into recalling his England World Cup final contingent.
However, while Owen Farrell, Jamie George, Mako Vunipola, George Kruis, Itoje, Billy Vunipola and Elliot Daly are all rested, Singleton, England’s late scrum-half call up, Ben Spencer, and Springbok bench tight-head Vincent Koch are all in the line-up against Racing.
McCall gave this explanation for his decision: “It is not realistic to jump from being away for five months, playing in the World Cup final, and then playing Racing. Different decisions are made for different players, and for some players (at the World Cup) there was a significant toll in terms of number of games, and in terms of responsibility.
“Owen Farrell and I have had a long chat, and he shouldered a lot of responsibility in the World Cup. I don’t know what it is like to lose a World Cup final, but we need to give him as much time as he needs to come back and be fresh and relish playing rugby again.”
McCall added: “This adversity is at a different level than we have faced before. We are not in control of what others say – but we are in control of what we do. My responsibility is to get on with the rugby, and keep the squad as united as we possibly can.”
McCall explained also that he was influenced in picking the likes of Singleton in a shadow crew which bears little resemblance to the side that won the European title last May by his
“One of the reasons I wanted to join Saracens was to play in these huge Champions Cup games”
involvement with Ulster as an assistant coach. Then they beat a Leicester side staked with England World Cup winners when the teams played in the European Cup two weeks after the final in Sydney.
He sats that it had impacted on his decision to go with fresh players: “Ulster beat Leicester 33-0, and it is something I have not forgotten.”
Singleton is grateful for the vote of confidence after months on the sidelines with England.
“It was tough at times – you get into rugby because you want to play it. But the coaches were pretty open and honest with me, and I knew my role in the squad.”
He says: “I was playing a bit of a waiting game, and I was always prepared in case something did happen to one of the hookers – but I knew I could use the World Cup and the training there to prepare myself, so I could come to Saracens in the best shape of my life.
“I’ve been training with the best players in England, so that’s the best preparation I could have before starting at a new club.”
It begs the question what happened to those players – and the scrum in particular – when they came unstuck against the Springboks in the final. Singleton says that the way the England scrum was disrupted was a surprise.
“Our set piece had been fantastic all tournament, but credit to South Africa, they were brilliant in the final. Yeah, they did a job.”
Asked whether his experience at Worcester might come in handy in terms of dealing with the pressure at
Saracens to get the points to stay in the league, Singleton picks his words carefully. “The clubs are different – at Sarries you are more expected to win, whereas at Worcester you are more of the underdog.”
He is similarly sure-footed when asked whether he moved to Saracens because of his ambition to win more England caps:
“Obviously, I do want to play for England. But whether I’m at Saracens, or Worcester, it is dependent on how well you are playing. This club’s record speaks for itself, with the number of trophies they’ve won, and winning trophies is one of the best things you can do in sport – and that was at the forefront of my mind. To come here, to win, and hopefully to kick-on with a fantastic squad.”
There is also a sense of Singleton coming home, because he was in the Saracens Academy from 15 to 18, and knows a number of the players who have progressed to the senior squad. “I went to college with Nick Tompkins, and I kept in touch with a fair few of them, and I’m a local guy from Harpenden, so I always saw them every time I came back.”
He adds: “I’ve been moving back in with my mum, so it’s definitely a sense of coming home. I went to Oaklands College that was affiliated with Saracens, and they were always down at my local club, Harpenden, and we used to go and watch them back when they were playing at Vicarage Road. So, it’s nice to be back.”
However, it could not be in more challenging circumstances – and McCall has warned his squad they cannot rely on anger to drive their motivation for eight months. So, does Singleton see motivation as an individual or collective responsibility?
According to the new hooker, “it’s a bit of both”. Singleton continues: “I’ve only been here for a week, but you can tell how tight-knit this team is. Then, individually, you have got to find something – whether it motivates you, or annoys you – to fuel you for each game. At the end of the day, we don’t know what the future holds, so you have to focus on what’s next – and that is Racing in the European Cup.”
“At Sarries you are more expected to win, at Worcester you are more of the underdog”