GOLDEN BARE!
Farrell the star taking Sarries to greatness
SARACENS won’t accept that they have achieved greatness yet. But they are striving to become rugby’s answer to FC Barcelona — inspired by a man who has already reached such an exalted sporting peak.
After an epic European final, when the English title-holders retained their Champions Cup, Owen Farrell was inundated with prizes and plaudits.
Just days after being named England player of the year, the fly- half was presented with another medal for being the best in Europe too — and acclaimed as a ‘complete’ player.
Billy Vunipola was man of the match for a Herculean contribution to another major triumph, but once he had finished leading a raucous dressing-room sing-along, the younger of the Vunipola brothers made it clear Farrell is Saracens’ spiritual leader.
‘It’s amazing for someone so young to be so driven,’ he said of 25-year-old Farrell. ‘He’s a bit like Kobe Bryant (the basketball legend) — he gets annoyed at everyone and shouts at everyone but you can see where he’s coming from. He just wants everyone to perform at his level and today he got player of the season. It shows what an amazing player he is.’
Moments after the game, Farrell was greeted by his father, Lions and Ireland coach Andy.
The cross-code icon’s ferociously competitive streak has been inherited by his son, but Vunipola added: ‘It can be a hindrance to have your dad being an amazing rugby league and union player. For him (Owen) to be so driven on and off the pitch is amazing to watch and follow. Faz is the hungriest person out there.’
Farrell kicked 13 points as Clermont’s resistance was quelled. But what stood out was the intensity of his work and the quality of his distribution, his attacking awareness and his decision-making.
Nick Abendanon played a significant part in dragging Saracens to the edge of defeat, with crucial tackles and the try which rounded off a stunning, long-range counter-attack by Clermont. He said: ‘Farrell is a complete player. He showed a lot of class today. He just delays the pass and waits for someone to fly up behind him, then puts a big guy into space. With him at 10, they are a great side. He controls their game-plan very, very well.
‘It’s a very easy game-plan and every player knows exactly what they have to be doing on the pitch, at exactly the right time. It’s relentless. They are great at putting you under pressure. When they are in the right areas, they come at you in wave after wave with big ball-runners — and big ball-runners with skill as well. Sarries are an incredible outfit.’
Chris Ashton touched down early on to become the record try- scorer in European Cup history with 37. Soon after, George Kruis crashed over and later, with Clermont threatening to turn the tables, the outstanding Alex Goode scored to seal victory.
So many others rose to the occasion, notably Brad Barritt, Richard Wigglesworth and Michael Rhodes.
Saracens become the fourth club to win this tournament back to back and they hope to become only the second English side to do the ‘double Double’ by retaining their Premiership title.
This is what greatness looks like, but Saracens are not comfortable with that notion.
‘It’s easy to say we’re all young, a lot of success has come early and we can have more in the future, but you have to work for it and fight for it,’ said big Billy. ‘A great team is Barcelona; a team that wins everything. We’re striving towards that. We have a massive game next week. If we win that it will give us an oppor- tunity of stepping up the ladder to greatness, but it’s very early days now. We have a lot of work to do before I feel comfortable saying we’re a great team.’
The massive game is against Exeter at Sandy Park, in an Aviva Premiership semi-final. Saracens have now won their last 10 knockout matches, but after enjoying an extra day off today, they will return to work knowing that they have a daunting task in Devon.
‘ We’ve put a lot into the Premiership in the last nine months,’ said Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall. ‘We owe it to ourselves to give it everything. Exeter are on fire so we know how tough it’ll be, but hopefully we have enough in reserve to play the way we did today.’
McCall also side- stepped the issue of Saracens’ place in the pantheon, adding: ‘All those dynasty questions and legacy questions, they are for others to judge in due course.’
Exeter will be ready and, like Clermont, will fight the good fight. But Saracens keep finding a way out of tight corners, to win these games and titles.
This juggernaut is going to take some stopping now.