WRAY OF HOPE
No.8 reveals how Sarries were driven by turmoil as they overpowered Sale in final
JACKSON WRAY revealed the fuel Saracens used to power their way to glory after ending his playing career on the highest high.
A come-from-behind victory over Sale saw the Londoners crowned English champions for the sixth time in 13 years.
Wray left to a standing ovation and, before embarking on his personal mission “to get drunk for a week”, lifted the lid on what it had taken to return Sarries to the summit.
“I don’t think people talk about this enough,” said the No.8, reflecting on the £5.4million fine which accompanied Saracens’ humiliating relegation for multiple salary-cap breaches in 2020. “It was the biggest fine of a game where you lose money every year. Let’s just put that in perspective. And we have got through it.
“Together we have done it. The owners said, ‘We made a mistake and we will stay and put it right’. And we have done our bit as players – stayed and fought and gone against everyone. Even today.
“Everyone was with Sale. Every club in the land was with Sale. Do you know what? That is how we like it. How we have always liked it. No one wants us to win and we don’t care.”
Saracens are a club who have needed that thick skin simply to survive. There is no question such adversity would have killed others. But they absorbed it then turned it to their advantage.
Wray said: “We sat down as players and said, ‘We are going to get back to the top of the game. We don’t know when but we will get there’.
“That hit me as soon as the whistle went. I thought about what a journey it’s been to get here. No one has given us anything.”
Nobody epitomised that fight more than captain Owen Farrell, who set the tone with his battle cry then went out and led the charge of the white brigade.
“He’s an unbelievable player, unbelievable leader,” added Wray. “He drives everything we do.
“His message to us was, ’You have got to go out and win this. They ain’t going to give it to us. If we want this we have got to go and take it’.
“He was out there melting people, putting kicks in, controlling the game, adding tempo. There is never any doubt
in my mind he is England’s No.10.” Sale, in their first final for 17 years, let nobody down. A blistering third quarter turned a 20-13 half-time deficit into a 25-23 lead.
But Saracens had endured too much for too long to fall away. With Farrell’s words ringing in their ears, they rallied, went out and won it ( Jamie George asleep with the trophy, top left).
Maro Itoje had spent the past year tormented by reruns of Freddie Burns’ last-gasp winning drop goal for Leicester in the 2022 final.
“I was tired of seeing that every five minutes,” he said. “Thank God I don’t have to go through another year of that.” SARACENS – Tries: Penalty, Malins, Daly, Van Zyl. Cons: Farrell 2. Pens: Farrell 3.
SALE – Tries: Van der Merwe, Roebuck, Rudd. Cons: Ford 2. Pens: Ford 2.