There has to be an asterisk but final will show Saracens might

Salary-cap claims may yet cast a shadow but with nine players in England’s squad and strong links to South Africa, club’s work with youth players will be on full display

This is a column that comes with an asterisk, a warning that all the fine things you read below about Saracens and their nurturing of players, their massive presence at this World Cup across several countries, their belief in good people making for good players, is underscored by the fact that salary-cap investigators will soon deliver findings into the club’s spending. If they are found guilty of transgressions, it would put an indelible stain on their reputation.

There is the asterisk, and it is a large one. Do not ignore, but also do not let it be your only view of one of the finest sporting institutions in the land.

Saracens have nine players in the England squad preparing for the World Cup final against South Africa in Yokohama on Saturday. The latest, scrum-half Ben

Spencer, arrived in Tokyo yesterday to replace the injured Willi Heinz. Two others are recent arrivals on the club’s books, full-back Elliot Daly, formerly of Wasps, and hooker Jack Singleton, who returns to the club from Worcester Warriors. Prop Vincent Koch will be part of the Springbok squad while the likes of Sean Maitland and Liam Williams have done service for Scotland and Wales respectively.

It was considered unique when West Ham supplied three members of England’s 1966 football World Cup-winning squad. Saracens trump that in spades. Factor in too that there is a remarkable similarity of style between the current South Africa approach and the template effectively copyrighted by Saracens under former Springbok Brendan Venter.

Coincidence? No, it is not. Laugh-a-minute former Saracens hooker Schalk Brits has also been an indispensable gee-up presence in this Bok squad.

There is another intriguing aspect of this mosaic of World Cup final influences – namely, that Eddie Jones was at Saracens when their modern-day makeover began a decade ago at a point when Owen Farrell et al were in the academy. One of the reasons purported for Jones’s departure was a supposed undue South African influence at the club. How that wheel of fortune has turned. If Jones had stayed, he would have mentored this Farrell generation.

There is one pointed question to ask about all this: how have Saracens attracted such talent to the club? Or, the more layered one: what is it that players find so special and attractive about the place? Money, of course, plays a significant part. But it would be wrong to believe that it is only the bottom line that gets the signature. There is not one Saracen I have come across down many years who has anything but good to say about the club, about their support and warmth and inclusivity, never mind anything that happens out on the training field.

Even if players such as Farrell and Maro Itoje are well remunerated (here comes that asterisk again), there is no way that such stars of the game would remain at the club if they did not fulfil their needs. Remember, too, that these players were produced by the club, not acquired. It does sound all very happy-clappy to talk about the holistic experience, where rugby is only one part of the

England Mako Vunipola Billy Vunipola Jamie George Jack Singleton Maro Itoje George Kruis Ben Spencer Owen Farrell Elliot Daly

Scotland Duncan Taylor Sean Maitland

Wales Rhys Carre Liam Williams

Argentina Juan Figallo

South Africa Vincent Koch Damian Willemse (loan)

US

Titi Lamositele

Canada Richard Wigglesworth (coach) jigsaw, but that is what keeps these players at the club. Of that there is no doubt. It is not just the high-profile squad trips to New York or the Munich Beer Festival that hold appeal, it is also the local community projects, the work placements, the lectures on a range of academic or historical subjects, the on-site creche, the mingling of academy and senior squads at training … on and on it goes, this integrated approach to life, a sporting kibbutz where everyone is considered equal.

It is not as if Saracens’ training base is a thing of splendour. They share the facilities with National League side Old Albanian, a traditional rugby club on the outskirts of St Albans. It is only recently that Saracens acquired their own stadium, Allianz Park, in the outer reaches of north London. That, too, would hardly count as a great sporting amphitheatre.

There is another myth about Saracens – that they are a galactico outfit in the mould of a Manchester City, bankrolled to the tune of billions and able to compile a shopping list of superstars on a whim. Saracens are more akin to Manchester United, when the class of ’92 came through. The same is true of Farrell, Jamie George and the rest, groomed as teenagers to perform as adults. Itoje was part of the second wave and the planning for five years hence is already well under way.

This was the project set up a decade ago when Venter came to the club along with ex-chief executive Edward Griffiths. The grand design was to create something different, something unique with the individual at the heart of the experience, where a commitment to those ideals mattered more than mere results.

The Venter blueprint has been carried on by Mark Mccall with Venter still advising and staying connected.

It sounds hokey, but it has worked. Saracens would give many countries at this World Cup a contest. Farrell thrives in such an environment, so too George and Itoje, the Vunipola brothers and on down the list, all players who have a deep sense of character first and foremost. Their technical skills are, of course, also second to none, but it is their personalities, their work ethic, their sense of the other rather than just themselves, that sets them apart.

They are conspicuous on a global stage this week, ambassadors as much as players, wholly engaged with the experience, representing their country with pride, spirit, selflessness and humility, values learnt at Saracens and about to be expressed in a World Cup final.

In almost every single aspect, Saracens behave as you would want a professional sports organisation to do. Their squad are human beings first and foremost, not assets for transaction. If only that asterisk were not there.