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Nigel Wray no show: 'For him to feel he cannot watch his club is really sad'
Saracens Club chairman Nigel Wray’s no show at the Rec last night has added to speculation around his future involvement with the club.
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Saracens won 25-12 at Bath to take their points tally in the Gallagher Premiership to minus 18.
The reigning champions were near full strength for the first time since accepting their 35-point deduction and £5.4million fine for breaching salary cap rules.
England captain Owen Farrell kicked 20 points on his return to club duty while Scotland wing Sean Maitland scored the only try at the Rec.
Wray – who normally attends all club matches – was not there to see Saracens absorb early pressure and then pull away for a convincing victory.
Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall said: “It’s a real shame that he doesn’t feel comfortable to come to the away matches.
“For somebody who has actually given rugby a lot, I believe, and given the north London community so much good, for him to feel he cannot watch his club is really sad. Hopefully he starts to feel differently soon, but it’s his decision for now.”
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Two weeks ago Wray said he took “full responsibility for the arrangements that led to this outcome.”
His no show at Bath now has some speculating that he will step back to a less public position at the North London club.
What a day Saturday is for Wales – the first outing for their new coach Wayne Pivac and a hearty goodbye for Warren Gatland in charge of the Barbarians after twelve years with Wales… and it will be officiated by their country's favourite son, Nigel Owenshttps://t.co/UPzNron2Kq
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 30, 2019
Meanwhile, McCall is refusing to look too far ahead after his side victory.
Asked if he had worked out how many games his team would need to win to avoid relegation, McCall said: “A more positive way of looking at it is that we have now played two games in the Premiership post the salary cap decision.
“One of those was Gloucester away when we had none of our international players available and now Bath away.
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“To have won them both is a good start for us in the campaign to stay up.”
‘The players are all back next week and I’ll have to start selecting… back row is definitely somewhere we have genuine pressure’
– Dean Ryan tells @OwainJTJones about the welcome selection headaches he faces at unfancied @dragonsrugby https://t.co/3g11Efiux7— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 29, 2019
McCall was more than satisfied with the performance in front of a full house.
He added: “It was a tough game in tough conditions, quite slippy. Bath had the better of it for the first 20 minutes. We had to absorb quite a lot of pressure, which we did. I just felt we grew into the game, got better and took more control as the game went on.
“The build-up to the try was outstanding and we kept (Sam) Underhill and (Francois) Louw away from the ball, which was an achievement.
“To come here and win – and win with a bit of control – was very good.”
Struggling Welsh region Ospreys have boldly predicted a radical shake-up happening soon to the PRO14 and Premiership leagueshttps://t.co/TsTdAFW8s7
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 30, 2019
Rhys Priestland kicked all the points for Bath, whose director of rugby Stuart Hooper said: “What I saw was 23 guys in Bath jerseys who were putting as much effort in as they could, which is what we expect. But that’s not enough at this level.
“We probably didn’t take as many opportunities as we should have done to score points early on – and then gave a few easy ones away for Owen Farrell to knock over. We are ruing some missed opportunities.
“It’s a pretty unique challenge, playing against a side with the quality they have across the board.
“For us now, it’s about putting the performances together and getting the wins. Regardless of where Saracens are, we need to develop our game to add to the effort we are putting in.”
– Press Association
Comments on RugbyPass
An on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
10 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
24 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
24 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
24 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
24 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
10 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
10 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
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