1
'Max Malins reaping benefit of top-tier rugby last term' - Mark McCall
Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall feels the free-scoring Max Malins is reaping the benefit of remaining in the top flight last season, following his four-try haul in Sunday’s 56-15 thumping of Wasps.
ADVERTISEMENT
Malins thrived during his loan spell with Bristol while Sarries were forced to fight their way out of the Championship in the wake of their enforced relegation for salary-cap breaches last year.
The 24-year-old backed up his hat-trick against Bath last week with another electric showing at the StoneX Stadium and England will have a player in the form of his life when he reports for international duty next week.
McCall said: “He wouldn’t have benefitted from playing in the Championship last year.
“Those players who were 23, 24 (years old), we knew we couldn’t afford to stop their development by playing in the Championship for a year and he was one of those.
“You can see with him, Ben (Earl), Nick Tompkins and Alex (Lozowski) as well, they’re all playing really well at the moment.
“It will be interesting to see where he plays for England – he’s played four games for us; two at full-back and two on the left wing, which is the rotation we wanted to do.
“I think he prefers playing at no.15, if I’m honest, but we’ll wait and see – he’s doing pretty good on the left wing.”
ADVERTISEMENT
On his team’s performance, McCall said: “It wasn’t error-free, there were mistakes along the way, but the pleasing thing was how we dealt with them; we just moved on to the next thing.”
Saracens eased into a 27-3 half-time lead, thanks to tries by Jamie George, Malins and Billy Vunipola.
Malins crossed the try line three more times in the second half, with Lozowski and Earl adding to Sarries’ tally and Jimmy Gopperth and Zach Kibirige striking for depleted Wasps.
MATCH REPORT: In-form England hopeful Max Malins becomes the first player since 2008 to claim consecutive Premiership hat-tricks.https://t.co/3QjiEelgJX
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) October 24, 2021
Wasps head coach Lee Blackett said: “I thought, at times, we showed a little bit of fight.
ADVERTISEMENT
“I thought we were too sloppy with the ball, really, and I thought in the set-piece we had an off-day, and we never put back-to-back efforts in with the ball, we never put any pressure on.
“I think we’ll walk away disappointed, although we had six guys out there making their debuts, so we get to see more people in a Wasps jersey.
“Hopefully, especially a few of the younger guys, they will get more time on the pitch and more time playing at this level, but I don’t think you can take too many positives away from a defeat like that.
“We turned over the ball a fair few times then gave it back immediately, so there was some good grit in our defence, but then we were just sloppy straight away.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Lets compare apples with apples. Lyon sent weak team the week before, but nobody raised an eyebrow. Give the South African teams a few years to build their depth, then you will be moaning that the teams are too strong.
41 Go to commentsDid footballs agents also perform the scout role at some time? I’m surprised more high profile players haven’t taken up the occupation, great way to remain in the game and use all that experience without really requiring a lot of specific expertise?
1 Go to commentsSuper rugby is struggling but that has little to do with sabbaticals. 1. Too many teams from Aust and NZ - should be 3 and 4 respectively, add in 2 from Japan, 1 possibly 2 from Argentina. 2. Inconsistent and poor refereeing, admittedly not restricted to Super rugby. Only one team was reffed at the breakdown in Reds v H’Landers match. Scrum penalty awarded in Canes v Drua when No 8 had the ball in the open with little defence nearby - ideal opportunity to play advantage. Coming back to Reds match - same scrum situation but ref played advantage - Landers made 10 yards and were penalised at the breakdown when the ref should have returned to scrum penalty. 3. Marketing is weak and losing ground to AFL and NRL. Playing 2 days compared with 4. 4. Scheduling is unattractive to family attendance. Have any franchises heard of Sundays 2pm?
10 Go to commentsAbsolutely..all they need is a chance in yhe playoffs and I bet all the other teams will be nervous…THEY KNOW HOW TO WIN IM THE PLAYOFFS..
2 Go to commentsI really hope he comes back and helps out with some coaching.
1 Go to commentsI think we are all just hoping that the Olympic 7s doesn’t suffer the same sad fate as the last RWC with the officials ruining the spectacle.
1 Go to commentsPersonally, I’ve lost the will to even be bothered about the RFU, the structure, the participants. It’s all a sham. I now simply enjoy getting a group of friends together to go and watch a few games a year in different locations (including Europe, the championship, etc). I feel extremely sorry for the real fans of these clubs who are constantly ignored by the RFU and other administrators. I feel especially sorry for the fans of clubs in the Championship who have had considerable central funding stripped away and are then expected to just take whatever the RFU put to them. Its all a sham, especially if the failed clubs are allowed to return.
9 Go to commentsI’m guessing Carl Hayman would have preferred to have stayed in NZ with benefit of hindsight. Up north there is the expectation to play twice as many games with far less ‘player management’ protocols that Paul is now criticising. Less playing through concussions means longer, healthier, careers. Carter used as the eg here by Paul, his sabbatical allowed him to play until age 37. OK its not an exact science but there is far more expectations on players who sign for Top 14 or Engl Prem clubs to get value for the huge salaries. NZR get alot wrong but keeping their best players in NZ rugby is not one of them. SA clubs are virtually devoid of their top players now, no thanks. They cant threaten the big teams in the Champions Cup, the squads have little depth. Cant see Canes/Chiefs struggling. Super has been great this year, fantastic high skill matches. Drua a fantastic addition and Jaguares will add another quality team eventually. Aus teams performing strongly and no doubt will benefit with the incentive of a Lions tour and a home RWC. Let Jordie enjoy his time with Leinster, it will allow the opportunity for another player to emerge at Canes in his absence.
10 Go to commentsLove that man, his way to despise angry little men is so funny ! 😂
4 Go to comments“South African franchises would be powerhouses if we had all our overseas based players back in situ. We would have the same unbeatable aura the Toulouses, Leinsters or Saracens of this world have had over the last decade or so.” Proof that Jake white does not understand the economics of the game in SA. Players earning abroad are not going to simply come back and represent the bulls. But they might if they have a springbok contract.
22 Go to commentsA lot of fans just joined in for the fun of it! We all admire O'Gara and what he has done for La Rochelle
4 Go to commentsThe RFU will find a way to mess this up as usual. My bet is there will be no promotion into the the Premiership, only relegation into National League One. Hopefully they won’t parachute failed clubs into the league at the expense of clubs who have battled for promotion.
9 Go to commentsWell that’s the contracts for RG and Jordie bought and paid for. Now, what are the chances we can persuade Antoine to hop over with all the extra dosh we’ll have from living at the Aviva & Croke next season…??? 🤑🤑🤑
35 Go to commentsWow, that’s incredible. Great for rugby.
35 Go to commentsYou probably read that parling is going to coach the wallaby lineout but if not before now you have.
14 Go to commentsIf someone like Leo Cullen was in O’Gara’s place I don’t hear Boo-ing. It’s not just that La Rochelle has hurt Leinster and O’Gara is their Irish boss. It’s the needle that he brings and the pantomime activity before the game around pretending that Munster were supporting LaRochelle just because O’Gara is from Cork. That’s dividing Irish provinces just to get an advantage for his French Team. He can F*ck right off with that. BOOOOO! (but not while someone is lying injured)
4 Go to commentsDid the highlanders party too hard before the game? They were the pits.
1 Go to commentsWhat a player! Not long until he’s in the England side, surely?
5 Go to commentsHe seems to have the same aura as Marcus Smith - by which I mean he’s consistently judged as if he’s several years younger than he actually is. Mngomezulu has played 24 times for the Stormers. When Pollard was his age he had played 24 times for South Africa! He has more time to develop, but he has also had time to do some developing already, and he hasn’t demonstrated nearly as much talent in that time as one would expect. If he is a generational talent, then it must be a pretty poor generation.
6 Go to commentsThe greatest Springbok coach of all time is entirely on the money. Rassie and Jacques have given the south african public a great few years, but the success of the springbok selection policy will need to be judged in light of what comes next. The poor condition that the provincial system is currently in doesn’t bode well for the next few years of international rugby, and the insane 2026 schedule that the Boks have lined up could also really harm both provincial and international consistency.
22 Go to comments