It’s win or go home now, says Christie
AS an Arsenal fan, scoring and being on the winning side at Spurs’ stadium last weekend was particularly sweet for Saracens flanker Andy Christie.
The 36-24 victory over Harlequins was watched by a Premiership record 1.52 million TV audience as well more than 50,000 fans inside the ground and secured Sarries a home semi-final with three rounds of the domestic season to spare.
But now Sarries’ attention turns to European matters and a Round of 16 date with the Ospreys at the StoneX Stadium and they are boosted by captain Owen Farrell’s recovery from an ankle injury.
The three-time champions did the double over them in the pool stages three years ago, despite losing Rhys Carre to a fourth-minute red card in the Swansea leg.
However, no one in the Sarries camp is taking them lightly, especially after the Welsh region’s home-and-away wins over Top 14 champions Montpellier and the 27-26 qualification-clinching victory at Leicester in round four.
“We are stepping up against a very good and very proud Ospreys team
in a European competition. If we lose this weekend, we are out,” said Christie, highlighting the jeopardy of the fixture.
“We’ve just had a Premiership game which was massive for us and fortunately we secured a home semi. But, ultimately in the Prem, there are more chances whereas this week is knockout so, if anything, I’d say it is a step up.
“It’ll be cool to be on the pitch with quite a few guys I have grown up watching. (Justin) Tipuric, to name one, is a fantastic player, who has a lot of brilliant qualities, so it’ll be good to test myself against people like him.
“And the Ospreys have had a lot of good results so it is not a challenge we are going to take lightly at all.”
With a possible quarter-final against defending champions La Rochelle at stake, Christie, 24, says Saracens are focused on the job at hand.
“We go into every single game with the mindset but this week there is probably a bit more edge, it’s human nature because everyone knows what is on the line: it is win or go home.”
Christie has had a frustrating couple of months travelling back and forth from Scotland without being able to add to his four caps, but big knockout European ties and occasions like “The Showdown” at Spurs are the perfect tonic.
“It was a big deal for me being an Arsenal fan. Hopefully we’ll get to play at the Emirates one day but the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is a brilliant stadium in fairness and it was great,” said the blindside who, as well as scoring Sarries’ third try, was sinbinned for the first time in his club career.
“It is brilliant to have that many eyes on a Premiership rugby game, it is brilliant to have that many people in the stadium and the club managed to put on a really special day.”
Conceding tries at the start of each half were two blemishes on an otherwise perfect day for the club. Christie says having everyone back together again from international duty played its part in producing a stunning display of attacking rugby.
“There’s always a feeling after the Six Nations where we are very grateful and feel very lucky to be able to come back to an environment we enjoy. I think we felt that and last week we relished that, being back together again and we managed to rise to the occasion,” said the four-cap international.
“I think it’s been well documented that this season we’ve tried to play a bit more of an attacking brand of rugby, a bit more fluid and free, and I think at times we really showcased that. But I wouldn’t say it was our best performance of the season because, at times, we were a bit sloppy and we were exposed a bit.
“This weekend is another opportunity for us to take a step in the right direction in terms of the performances we are trying to get after.”