The Daily Telegraph - Sport

We want to get even better, warns Mccall

- By Mick Cleary RUGBY UNION CORRESPOND­ENT at BT Murrayfiel­d

Saracens, a tale of two playlists: from the strategic game-plan put together by director of rugby Mark Mccall, two years ago after a dispiritin­g European Cup semi-final defeat in St-étienne to the music mix compiled by prop Richard Barrington belting out at full blast in the Murrayfiel­d dressing room on Saturday night accompanie­d by adhoc dancing from Maro Itoje, Billy Vunipola and Owen Farrell in celebratio­n of back-to-back Champions Cup titles. Eurovision glory. There are not many British outfits that managed that this weekend.

The seeds of the success are not to be found on any terrain of sport- ing triumph but deep in the bowels of the Stade Geoffroy-guichard in St-étienne. It was there in April 2015 that Mccall held court, insisting that the team who had just perished at the hands of Clermont Auvergne would rise. It was a stirring post-match appraisal. If there were any doubters – and there were plenty – there are none now.

Saracens have not lost a game of knockout rugby since, either in Europe or domestical­ly. They are undefeated in the Champions Cup, their landmark victory over Clermont at Murrayfiel­d setting a new record of 18 consecutiv­e matches without a loss. Their only relative fall from grace was a scrambled draw at Scarlets in Llanelli this season – and the late, late manner in which that was achieved showed that they are a team with a sense of fight at their core, a side of conviction, one for all seasons, and above all, on the cusp of greatness. The double double is still very much on.

“We owe it to ourselves, not to anyone else, to give it everything we’ve got,” Mccall said.

He dismissed any talk of dynasties or legacy. All that is for others to confer on them. “Genuinely, we don’t talk about such things,” said Mccall. “We only talk about how to get better. When we lost to Clermont in St-étienne it was a really raw time for us as a club. We had lost two finals the year before [2014] and we were on the verge of being known as the sort of team that can’t deliver on the big stage.

“We went to Franklin’s Gardens [a few weeks later] in the Premiershi­p and won a semi-final. It was a big moment of change. We haven’t lost a knockout game since, which is an incredible record. What is pleasing is that today we showed everybody how much we have evolved.”

For the era-affirming double double to happen they must first beat in-form Exeter at Sandy Park in the Aviva Premiershi­p semi-final. Much has been said about the esprit de corps that is the essence of the club, from bottle washer to chairman Nigel Wray, that camaraderi­e that binds them together as equals.

Real as that brotherhoo­d might be, there is a danger of placing too much emphasis on the power of the intangible and overlookin­g the skill and intelligen­ce and rugby ingenuity that goes into the mix. And judgment, too, Mccall’s supposedly contentiou­s call to rest nine players against Wasps in the final league game now looks exactly what it was, the measured decision of a managerial maestro.

Saracens play good rugby, very good rugby. Everything else, the bonding, the togetherne­ss, takes them to another level. On Saturday, for the opening quarter and last 10 minutes in particular, they played as well as they have ever played, the Men in Black emulating that other lot at the other end of the world who also wear black. Scarily for all adversarie­s, as Mccall put it, “there is no reason we can’t get better”.

And to think that Saracens were once pilloried as being monochrome and one-dimensiona­l. These days they are multi-layered, with Farrell, European Player of the Year, seeking space and probing for holes – from the very first minute, when Chris Ashton almost scored. Ashton was not to be denied, however, the Toulon-bound wing latching on to an exquisite kick-through from Alex Goode in the 13th minute to claim his 37th try in Europe, a new record. It would have taken something to eclipse the mighty Billy Vunipola for the man-of-thematch award but Goode nearly did so and you wonder again why he has never been deemed worthy of more England caps. He has vision and he has guile, teeing up the position with an angled cut-back run for George Kruis’s try in the 21st minute and then applying the coup de grâce with the title-clinching try seven minutes from time.

Saracens themselves never looked panicked but their fans might have had a few wobbles as Clermont closed to 18-17 by the hour with tries by Rémi Lamerat and a stunner from Nick Abendanon.

Saracens, though, know themselves. They turned outwards, not inwards, trusted in the lessons from that day in St-étienne when they pledged to reach out and conquer new horizons. And they have.

 ??  ?? Kings of Europe: Saracens players celebrate retaining the European Champions Cup at Murrayfiel­d
Kings of Europe: Saracens players celebrate retaining the European Champions Cup at Murrayfiel­d

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