Saracens will thrive on hate, insists Ashton

SARACENS will resurrect the spirit of their nomadic past tonight by adopting an us-against-the-world mentality to extend their era of knockout glory. The English standard-bearers will go into the Champions Cup final — part one of a double Double mission — well prepared for a Murrayfield crowd and wider TV audience willing Clermont Auvergne to claim Europe’s top prize. Saracens are favourites with the bookies but not the neutrals. Not that they care. For several years, before putting down roots in north London, Mark McCall’s side were well versed in playing with backs to the wall. So what awaits them in Edinburgh will be the same old routine — and nothing as hostile as facing Munster in Dublin in the semi-final, when they won emphatically. ‘It’s something we’ve grown accustomed to and it gives us extra motivation,’ said wing Chris Ashton. ‘We take energy from it and like the fact that we are on our own out there. We don’t need a “16th man” — we generate our own energy.’ Clermont have just one Top 14 league triumph to show for 12 appearances in the final, the last in 2015. That was the year they lost to Toulon in the Champions Cup final having beaten Saracens in the semi. Astonishingly, that was the last time Saracens lost a knockout game. Since then, their record in the Aviva Premiership and Champions Cup is played nine, won nine. ‘That’s a record we should be really proud of,’ said McCall, the director of rugby. Saracens are seeking to emulate Leicester, Leinster and Toulon by conquering the continent two years in a row, but they are up against a highly motivated team. ‘Ever since 2010, there has been a hunger to win anything,’ said Clermont’s English wing, Nick Abendanon. ‘We have lost most of the finals we’ve been in. We have to finish the job off this year.’ David Strettle, the French club’s former Saracens wing, is bemused by the antipathy towards his old team. ‘I have played in teams where there are gobs****s on the pitch, but Saracens haven’t got them, so I find it hard to understand why everyone hates them,’ he said. Saracens will gladly accept more hostility if they extend their knockout winning run to 10 games and prolong Clermont’s finals agony in the process.