Envious English clubs need to copy Saracens' blueprint to emulate European adventures
On Saturday afternoon, the rugby story was not Billy Vunipola’s controversial comments on social media or the stupidity of a fan running onto the pitch to confront him, it was the ruthlessness of Saracens’ performance.
A few successful kicks at goal and an opportunistic try off the back of a mishandled Saracens scrum gave an air of respectability on the scoreboard to Munster’s efforts at the Ricoh Arena, but the reality was that it was a one-sided match that Saracens never looked like losing. It finished 32-16, but it could quite easily have been a 20+ point deficit had Darren Sweetnam not struck off of the Saracens’ scrum error midway through the second half.
Credit where it’s due, though, and Munster never gave up on the game, nor did they present a meek challenger who Saracens were able to brush passed with little effort, it’s just that Saracens were more efficient and clinical in almost every aspect of play.
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For envious Gallagher Premiership clubs who watch on at Saracens’ European adventures, with the side from north London now preparing for their fourth Champions Cup final in six seasons, there is no closely-guarded secret to the club’s success. It was all on show in Coventry on Saturday afternoon.
Of the 15 men that started the game, both smothering and outplaying Munster from the outset, six of the players came from the club’s junior academy. Jamie George, Maro Itoje, Jackson Wray, Ben Spencer, Owen Farrell and Alex Goode all previously turned out for Saracens U18s, before being given professional contracts at the club.
That number jumps from six to seven when you include George Kruis, who was signed at 18, with the lock having been let go by Harlequins when the decision on who to contract was made.
It jumps again to 10, if you include Titi Lamositele, Mako Vunipola and Billy Vunipola, all of whom were identified early and brought to the club by the time they were 20 years of age. That means two thirds of the starting XV were developed, or spent considerable time developing at the club.
That leaves Alex Lozowski, David Strettle, Brad Barritt, Michael Rhodes and Liam Williams.
Lozowski was picked up from Wasps, where his opportunities were limited behind Danny Cipriani, Strettle was an experienced addition with, you could argue, some of his best rugby behind him, and both Barritt and Rhodes were not high profile additions when they arrived at the club, with the pair going on to enjoy the best rugby of their careers in the following years.
Of those five, only Williams really fits the bill of a big-name signing and his impact has been superb, with the versatile back three player living up fully to his reputation and the expectations that have surrounded him since he arrived.
It goes to show that you don’t need to sign superstar players from all over the world to be competitive with the very best. You need to produce your own players, show savvy talent identification early and then recruit wisely, rather than going for the ‘sexy’ signings. It’s something that Saracens seem to have mastered and they have put a coaching staff around those players that allows them to have success with the approach.
There’s no doubt that the likes of Barritt, Rhodes and Lozowski have improved as players since they have been at the club and although transfer fees are extremely rare in rugby, it’s the same policy of buying low and selling high that the likes of Ajax and Spurs have excelled with in football of late. Maintaining that doesn’t come cheaply, though, so maybe Barcelona are a more suitable comparison, as Saracens’ ability to retain players is unparalleled in English rugby. The key, though, is that they put themselves in a position to succeed through their academy, scouting and development coaching.
From Alex Sanderson, Ian Peel, Kevin Sorrell, Joe Shaw, Dan Vickers and Phil Morrow in the senior set-up, to Mike Hynard, Adam Powell, Kelly Brown and James Tirrell on the academy pathway, there is a constant theme of not just preparing players for the game at the weekend, but also continuing to help them to improve, no matter their age or reputation. This, of course, is all coordinated under the impressive stewardship of director of rugby Mark McCall.
No one should expect this relentlessness and domination of Saracens to end anytime soon, either.
Elliot Daly is on his way to London and if he has the same impact as the club’s last big-name signing in Williams, he’s only going to add to their already considerable ability, whilst the addition of highly-touted prospect Rhys Carre from the Cardiff Blues has all the hallmarks of the move Saracens made for Mako Vunipola back when he was at Bristol. Daly makes Saracens even better outside of international windows and Carre reportedly turned down more money in Wales to be a part of the project going on in St Albans.
Nick Isiekwe and Ben Earl are right on the cusp of the first XV when everyone is available, Nick Tompkins and Max Malins have shown up well whenever they get an opportunity and Matt Gallagher and Rotimi Segun should see their playing time increase next season as Williams and Sean Maitland go to the Rugby World Cup. Other talents with a lot of promise, such as Joel Kpoku, Tadgh McElroy, Andy Christie, Elliot Obatoyinbo and Sean Reffell, wait in the wings, also.
Another good crop of youngsters is on the way in, too, with tighthead Harvey Beaton potentially a long-term solution for a relative problem position, England U18 back rower Oliver Stonham signing on and mobile hooker Theo Dan bringing some welcome x-factor.
For Saracens, the machine is running. Every year they have to maintain it and tweak it, but the foundation is in place for success. There’s no shortcut for the Leicester Tigers, Wasps or Baths of the Premiership to take and get to where Saracens are, but the blueprint for traversing that path is not hard to find, if you really want to look for it.
Getting your house in order, in terms of coaching, a productive pathway and good scouting doesn’t come cheaply, but as another European season approaches its climax, Saracens are once again the only club carrying the flag for English rugby at the highest level.
Watch: The Academy – Part Two
Comments on RugbyPass
After their 5/0 start, I had the Crusaders to finish Top 4 only…they lost the plot in Perth but will reload and back themselves vs 4th placed Rebels…
3 Go to commentsBoth nations missed a great opportunity to book a game that would have had a lot of interest from around the world. I understand these games can’t be organised in 5 minutes but they should have found a way to make it happen. I don’t think Wales are ducking anyone but it’s a bad look haha.
3 Go to commentsIt will be fascinating to see the effect that Jo Yapp has. If they can compete with Canada and give BFs a run for their money that will be progress
1 Go to commentsFollowing his dream and putting in the work. Go well young fella!
3 Go to commentsPerhaps filling Twickenham is one of Mitchell’s KPIs. I doubt whether both September matches will be at Twickenham on consecutive weekends. I would take the BF one to a large provincial stadium so as not to give them the advantage and experience of playing at Twickenham before a large crowd prior to the RWC.
2 Go to commentsvery unfortunate for Kitshoff, but big opportunity potentially for Nché to prove he is genuinely the best loosehead in the world, rather than just a specialist finisher. Presuming that if Kitshoff is out, it will also give Steenekamp a chance to come into the 23? Or are others likely to be ahead of him?
1 Go to commentsA long held question in popular culture asks if art imitates life or does the latter influence the former? Over this 6 nations I can ask the same question of the media influencing the thoughts of its audience or vice versa. Nobody wants to see cricket scores in rugby, as a spectacle it is not sustainable. With so many articles about England’s procession and lack of competition it feeds the epicaricacy of many looking for an opportunity to pounce. England are not the first team to dominate nor does it happen only in rugby, think Federer, Nadal, Red Bull or Mercedes, Manchester Utd, Australia in tests and World Cups. Instead of celebrating the achievements why find reasons to falsify it pointing towards larger playing pool, professional for a longer period or mitigate with the lack of growth in other nations. Can we not enjoy it while it is here and know that it won’t last for ever, others coveting what England have will soon take the crown, ask the aforementioned?
6 Go to commentsShame he won’t turn out for the Netherlands now they’re improving. U20s are Euro champs and in the U20 Trophy this year. The senior sides gets better every year too.
3 Go to commentsWill rugbypass tv be showing these games?
1 Go to commentsWell where do you start, the fact that England have a professional domestic league and Ireland’s is fully amatuer, that they have fully seperated professional squads at Fifteens and Sevens (7’s thinly disguised as GB), and Ireland have fully pro Sevens squad who loan some players back to the Semi-Professional Fifteens squad (moved from amateur for only a year or so) for a few games at 6N & RWC’s. The Women’s games is a shambles, and is at risk of killing itself by pushing for professionalism when the market isn’t really there to support it outside one or two countnries..
6 Go to commentsWayne Smith's input didn't have as much impact on the last final as Davison's red card for Thompson. England were 14 points up and flying when that happened.
6 Go to commentsBilly's been playing consistently well for 2 - 3 seasons now and deserves a look in at the top level. Ioane and ALB are still first choice but there needs to be injury cover and succession. His partnership with Jordie gives him first dibs you'd think. Go the Hurricanes.
3 Go to commentsIt’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
3 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
31 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
2 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
3 Go to commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
3 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
1 Go to comments